OF 


•PIJNIMNS 


JUDSON 


EXLlBRiSl 


MONTANA 

"THE   LAND  OF  SHINING  MOUNTAINS1* 


MONTANA 

The   Land  of  Shining'  Mountains 


BY 

KATHARINE   BERRY  JUDSON 


WITH  54  ILLUSTRATIONS  AND  A  MAP 


FOURTH    EDITION 


CHICAGO 

A.  (X  McCLURG  & 

1912 


COPYRIGHT,  1909 
A.  C.  McCLURG  &  CO, 

1909 

Published  April,  1909 
Fourth   Edition,  August  1912 


3L  IjaU  printing 
(Ihiriujn 


PREFACE 

little  book  does  not  profess  to  be  a  history.  It 
is  simply  an  historical  reader,  written  to  give  to 
children,  in  proper  sequence,  some  of  the  romantic 
and  picturesque  scenes  from  the  early  history  of  Mon- 
tana, and  to  inspire  them  with  a  wish  to  know  more 
of  the  history  of  their  State. 

In  the  early  settlement  of  the  West,  the  section  now 
known  as  Montana  was  overlooked.  Travellers  bound 
for  Old  Oregon,  dreaming  of  the  fertile,  well-watered 
country  on  the  coast,  were  not  attracted  by  the  sweep- 
ing plains  of  Montana  nor  by  the  rugged  mountains. 
Those  who  came  up  the  Missouri  River  in  "fire  canoes" 
passed  over  Mullen's  road  to  Walla  Walla  and  onward 
toward  the  Pacific.  Those  who  travelled  westward 
over  the  "  Great  Medicine  Road  of  the  Whites  "  were 
anxious  only  to  reach  their  journey's  end,  and  few 
turned  aside  into  the  inhospitable  region  of  the  Rocky 
Mountains.  It  was  only  when  rumors  of  gold  spread 

through   the     West    and    through   "the    States"    that 

v 

251149 


vi  PREFACE 

others  besides  trappers  and  traders  sought  the  Shin- 
ing Mountains. 

The  history  of  Montana  has  been  overlooked  in  a 
somewhat  similar  way.  The  broad,  brown  buffalo 
plains  are  skilfully  depicted  by  George  Bird  Grinnell, 
and  the  Oregon  trail  is  known  to  every  schoolboy 
through  Parkman's  fascinating  work.  The  Rocky 
Mountains  have  their  historians,  but  these  seldom 
more  than  touch  upon  Montana.  Old-time  Oregon 
has  many  a  student  in  the  universities  and  cities  along 
the  Pacific  coast,  but  in  almost  every  case  is  Montana 
west  of  the  Rockies,  once  a  part  of  Oregon,  overlooked. 
The  only  part  of  the  State's  history  which  has  been 
at  all  well  worked  out  is  the  identification  of  the 
Lewis  and  Clark  trail  by  Olin  D.  Wheeler  and  Elliott 
Coues,  and  this  is  due  partly  to  the  fact  that  Lewis 
and  Clark  spent  more  time  in  what  is  now  Montana 
than  in  any  other  part  of  the  unknown  West  explored 
by  them.  As  a  result,  the  history  of  Montana  has 
hardly  as  yet  been  attempted.  Hubert  Howe  Ban- 
croft did  pioneer  work,  but  for  the  people  of  the  State 
to-day,  and  especially  for  the  children,  there  is  no  pop- 


PREFACE  Vll 

ular  book  from  which  they  can  secure  a  clear,  straight- 
forward account  of  its  romantic  history. 

A  personal  recognition  of  this  deficiency,  supple- 
mented by  the  request  of  the  Superintendent  of 
Schools  at  Kalispell,  induced  the  author  to  undertake 
the  present  outline  sketch.  Thanks  for  suggestion 
and  encouragement  are  especially  due  to  Mr.  W.  E. 
Harmon,  State  Superintendent  of  Schools,  to  City 
Superintendents  Mr.  W.  D.  S wetland  at  Kalispell, 
and  Mr.  Randall  J.  Condon  at  Helena,  as  well  as  to 
Mr.  W.  S.  Bell,  Librarian  of  the  Montana  Historical 

Society,  and  to  others. 

K.  B.  J. 
SEATTLE,  WASHINGTON, 

January  23,  1909. 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER  PAGE 

I.  MONTANA  LONG  AGO  .          .          .          .          .  15 

II.  LEWIS  AND  CLARK  IN  MONTANA      ....        22 

III.  A  RACE  FOR  LIFE. — THE  TRAPPERS       ...        39 

IV.  FURS,  FORTS,  AND  FIGHTS     ...  .50 
V.  INDIANS  AROUND  THE  WOODPILES   .                               .63 

VI.      INDIANS  ON  HORSEBACK 76 

VII.      GOLD!       .  95 

VIII.  VIGILANTE  DAYS          .                    ....      105 

IX.  PIONEER  DAYS   .          .          .          .          .          .          .117 

X.      INDIAN  BATTLES 131 

XI.  INDIAN  BELIEFS  AND  LEGENDS        .          .          .           .146 

XII.  How  THE  INDIANS  LIVED      .          .          .          .          .158 

APPENDIX 

BRIEF  ANNOTATED  BIBLIOGRAPHY  OF  BOOKS  TOUCH- 
ING UPON  MONTANA  HISTORY  .          .          .          .179 

STATE  CONSTITUTION  OF  MONTANA  .          .          .189 

INDEX        .  .  339 


ILLUSTRATIONS 

PAGE 

THE    SHINING    MOUNTAINS    AS    SEEN    FROM  THE  FLATHEAD 

VALLEY          .......    Frontispiece 

BUFFALOES   .........        18 

ON  THE  PLAINS  OF  MONTANA  —  DRAGGING  BRUSH  FOR  THE 

MEDICINE  LODGE    .          .          .          .          .          .          .24 

ASSINIBOIN  TEPEES  ON  THE  PLAINS   .....        30 

GLITTERING  PEAKS,  NORTH  OF  LAKE  MCDONALD          .          .        40 
JIM  BRIDGER,  THE  TRAPPER     .          .          .          .          .          .46 

A  ROAD  THROUGH  THE  TAMARACKS,  NEAR  LAKE  McDoNALD          56 

A  Sioux  CHIEF 66 

TEPEES  IN  THE  VALLEY  .......        78 

BANNACK  IN  THE  "60's  .......        96 

VIRGINIA  CITY  IN  EARLY  MINING  DAYS     .          .          .          .102 

ROAD  AGENT  ROCK  ON  OLD  STAGE  ROAD  NEAR  BANNACK       .      108 
EARLY  DAY  FREIGHT  AND  EXPRESS  LINE   .          .          .  .118 

A  HARVEST  i\  THE  FLATHEAD  VALLEY       ....      126 

CUHLKY,    (YsT Kit's   ScOUT 132 

Two  OF  THE  CHIEFS  WHO  FOUGHT  AGAINST  CUSTER  136 


ILLUSTRATIONS  —  Continued 

THE  LONELY  FIELD  WHERE  CUSTER  AND  His  MEN  FELL  .      140 

MONUMENT  TO  CUSTER  AND  His  MEN          .          .          .  .14*2 

READY  FOR  THE  PROCESSION     .          .          .          .          .  .148 

BELLS  AND  BEADS  .  .  .          .          .          .  .156 

A  FLATHEAD  AND  A  BLACKFOOT  BOY          .          .          .  .160 

INDIAN  FINERY      .          .          .          .          .          .          .  .164 

A  MONTH-OLD  PAPOOSE  IN  ITS  CRADLE       .          .          .  .168 

AN  INDIAN  TRAVOIS        .          .          .          .          „          .  .170 

"DRESSED  UP"  ...  .174 


MONTANA 

"THE   LAND  OF  SHINING  MOUNTAINS" 


MONTANA 

The  Land  of  Shining-  Mountains' 
CHAPTER  I 

MONTANA    LONG   AGO 

[E  Indians  called  Montana  the  Land  of  Shining 
Mountains.  They  gave  it  that  name  because  of 
the  peculiar  glistening  of  the  high  peaks,  white  with 
snow.  In  winter  and  in  early  summer,  from  far  out 
on  the  plains,  the  Indians  could  see  these  glittering 
mountains. 

Montana  means  mountainous,  and  that  is  how  the 
Territory,  later  the  State,  got  its  name, —  because  of 
these  beautiful  shining  mountains.  It  was  not  known 
as  Montana  until  the  year  1864. 

In  the  early  days,  before  white  men  came  into  this 
wild,  rugged  region,  nobody  knew  anything  about  it 

except   the    Indians.     Then    came    the    expedition   of 

15 


i /\N. ISTORICAL  READER 

Lewis  and  Clark  in  1805.  They  were  the  very  first 
white  men  who  ever  crossed  these  heights.  The  next 
year  a  few  more,  very  bold  and  daring,  began  to 
travel  among  these  Shining  Mountains,  looking  for 
furs.  Some  of  them  were  trappers  who  hunted  wild 

animals    for    the    sake    of    their    skins.     Others    were 

» 

traders  who  gave  the  Indians  beads,  calico,  blankets, 
bullets,  powder,  guns,  and  even  whiskey,  while  the 
Indians,  in  exchange,  gave  them  the  skins  of  beavers, 
buffaloes,  wolves,  deer,  foxes,  and  other  animals. 

Do  you  know  how  the  country  looked  before  the 
white  men  came?  Let  us  put  on  magic  caps  that 
will  carry  us  back  to  the  yec*/  1800,  before  Lewis  and 
Clark  even,  when  no  white  man  had  ever  yet  set  foot 
in  these  mountains.  Then  we  will  go  up  in  a  balloon 
so  that  we  can  look  out  over  the  country. 

Our  balloon  is  going  up  from  near  Great  Falls  - 
straight  up  for  perhaps  half  a  mile.  Now  look  down. 
There  is  no  city  beneath  us  -  -  nothing  there  but  the 
great  waterfalls  of  the  Missouri.  You  cannot  see  a 
house  or  barn,  or  a  street-car  or  a  railroad  train  or  a 
steamboat,  or  even  a  single  white  man.  There  is 


MONTANA  LONG  AGO  17 

only  the  river  as  it  dashes  and  foams  over  the  falls. 
The  Missouri  River  comes  into  our  story  very  often. 

But  what  can  you  see  ?  Look !  Away  out  on 
the  green,  grassy  plains  to  the  east  and  north,  do  you 
see  those  great  herds  of  hump-backed  buffaloes  ? 
There  are  thousands  and  tens  of  thousands  of  them. 
In  some  places  the  plains  instead  of  being  green  with 
grass  are  brown  with  buffaloes. 

Between  the  herds,  perhaps  a  mile  or  two  from 
them,  do  you  see  the  Indian  camp  with  the  tepees 
arranged  in  circles  ?  Our  magic  caps  give  us  very 
sharp  eyes,  so  you  can  see  the  squaws  dressing  the 
skins,  making  pemmicari,"  and  drying  some  of  the 
buffalo  meat.  Pemmican  is  dried  buffalo  meat 
pounded  into  bits  and  mixed  with  buffalo  tallow. 
It  is  put  into  skin  bags  and  will  keep  a  long  time. 

Indians  are  going  out  from  camp  to  kill  more 
buffaloes.  See!  The  braves  are  jumping  on  their 
trained  ponies  and  riding  straight  into  a  herd.  They 
have  only  bows  and  arrows,  because  until  the  traders 
come  the  Indians  have  no  guns.  They  kill  young 
cows  for  food,  leaving  them  lying  here  and  there  on 


18  MONTANA:    AN   HISTORICAL  READER 

the  ground  for  the  squaws  to  dress  while  they 
hunt  down  others.  Some  they  kill,  not  for  food,  but 
for  the  skins,  which  they  will  use  for  covering  their 
tepees  and  for  trading.  Over  there  a  brave  is  chasing 
an  old  buffalo  with  a  very  tough,  thick  hide.  This 
skin  the  Indians  want  to  use  for  a  bull-boat.  It  is  not 
easy  to  kill  this  old  one.  The  first  arrow  wounded 
him,  but  he  is  charging  straight  at  the  Indian's  pony. 
He  lowers  his  shaggy  head,  rushes  at  the  pony,  and 
tries  to  catch  it  on  his  horns.  But  look!  The  pony 
is  trained  and  jumps  away.  It  jumps  so  cleverly 
that  the  Indian  has  a  chance  to  shoot  another  arrow 
just  where  it  will  kill  the  buffalo  which  tumbles  down 
in  a  dark  heap  on  the  plain.  He  fought  hard,  but  the 
pony  and  Indian  were  too  clever  for  him. 

But  the  killing  of  these  buffaloes  has  frightened 
others.  They  are  easily  frightened.  Sometimes  just 
the  shadow  of  a  cloud  on  the  ground  will  stampede 
an  entire  herd.  One  begins  to  run,  then  another 
and  another,  and  away  they  all  go,  bellowing  loudly, 
until  they  disappear  in  a  great  cloud  of  dust.  When 
these  great  herds  go  racing  over  the  plains  the  sound 


MONTANA  LONG  AGO  19 

of  their  hoofs  is  like  thunder,  and  old  trappers  say 
they  seem  almost  to  shake  the  earth. 

If  you  look  east  and  north,  no  matter  how  sharp 
are  your  eyes,  you  can  see  nothing  but  these  boundless 
plains,  a  few  strange-looking  buttes,  and  the  gleam 
of  rivers  with  bluffs  and  trees  along  the  banks.  The 
plains  are  green  with  grass  in  the  Spring  and  covered 
with  beautiful  wild  flowers,  blue,  pink,  yellow,  white, 
and  red.  There  are  no  hunters  yet,  no  ranches,  no 
cowboys.  Even  if  you  look  far,  far  away  to  where 
the  sky  fits  down  like  a  big  blue  bowl  over  the  green 
plain,  you  can  see  nothing  moving  except  the  Indians, 
and  buffaloes  or  other  wild  animals. 

Now  look  in  the  other  directions,  south  and  west. 
See  how  different  everything  is!  Everywhere  are 
the  great  rugged  mountains,  covered  with  endless 
forests  of  pine,  spruce,  fir,  and  tamarack,  far  up  to 
the  snow-line.  The  tops  of  the  peaks  are  covered 
with  the  shining  snow. 

In  among  the  mountains  are  beautiful  little  valleys, 
called,  in  trappers'  slang,  "holes."  Now  our  balloon 
is  moving  toward  them,  and  you  can  hear  the  rushing 


20  MONTANA:    AN  HISTORICAL  READER 

and  roaring  of  the  foaming  streams  as  they  come 
thundering  down  the  steep  mountains  and  dash  across 
these  holes.  In  these  valleys  you  see  the  Indian 
camps  with  the  tepees  always  arranged  in  circles,  but 
you  cannot  see  any  buffaloes.  They  are  all  out  on  the 
plains.  But  you  can  see  mountain  sheep,  moose,  and 
elk.  You  can  hear  the  howling  of  wolves,  and  if  you 
look  closely  you  can  see  panthers  and  mountain  lions 
slipping  along  the  streams,  watching  for  a  chance  to 
pounce  upon  a  deer  when  it  comes  down  to  drink. 
Up  in  the  sky,  do  you  see  the  eagles  circling  about 
their  nests  in  the  tops  of  old  broken  trees  far  up  on 
the  mountain  sides? 

Under  the  towering  mountain  peaks,  do  you  see 
the  beautiful  blue  lakes  ?  Some  are  large  and  some 
small,  but  most  of  them  were  only  foaming,  rushing 
streams  until  the  end  of  the  valley  became  blocked 
up,  perhaps  by  a  landslide.  The  water,  since  it  can- 
not escape,  forms  a  lake. 

But  you  cannot  see  any  trappers,  traders,  or  miners. 
They  have  not  yet  come  into  this  region.  Even 
Lewis  and  Clark,  the  first  white  men,  have  not  yet 


MONTANA  LONG   AGO  21 

explored  the  Missouri  River  and  crossed  these  heights. 
All  of  this  wonderful  country,  the  future  State  of 
Montana,  five  hundred  and  forty  miles  long  and  two 
hundred  and  seventy-five  miles  wide,  remains  for 
many,  many  years  an  unknown  land.  No  one  knows 
anything  at  all  about  it  except  the  Indians,  and  they 
simply  call  it  the  Land  of  Shining  Mountains. 


CHAPTER  II 

LEWIS   AND   CLARK    IN    MONTANA 

\\7HEN  we  were  up  in  our  balloon,  no  white  man, 
you  will  remember,  had  ever  crossed  the  Shining 
Mountains.  Only  one,  a  French  explorer,  in  1743,  had 
seen  them.  They  did  not  even  have  a  name.  When 
Lewis  and  Clark  crossed  them  in  1805  (five  years 
after  our  balloon  trip),  they  called  them  the  Shining 
Mountains,  the  Snowy  Mountains,  the  Stony  Moun- 
tains, and  once  or  twice,  the  Rock  Mountains. 

Now,  in  1803  the  United  States  bought  a  broad 
sweep  of  country  called  Louisiana,  which  stretched 
from  the  Mississippi  River  to  the  Rocky  Mountains. 
The  Government  knew  that  somewhere,  far  behind 
this  great  range  of  mountains,  lay  the  Pacific  Ocean, 
but  nobody  knew  how  far  it  was  to  the  ocean,  nor 
how  wide  were  the  plains,  nor  how  high  the  moun- 
tains which  had  to  be  crossed.  So  two  years  later, 
President  Jefferson  sent  out  an  exploring  party  called 

the  Lewis  and  Clark  Expedition,  to  find  out  just  what 

22 


LEWIS  AND   CLARK  IN  MONTANA  23 

sort  of  a  country  this  "Louisiana  Purchase"  was, 
as  well  as  the  country  beyond  it. 

Captain  Lewis  and  Captain  Clark,  with  twenty- 
six  men,  started  from  St.  Louis  up  the  Missouri  River. 
They  came  by  water,  because  it  is  always  easier  to 
travel  in  that  way  through  a  strange  country,  and 
also  because  they  wanted  to  find  the  source  of  the 
river.  They  spent  a  great  deal  of  time  in  that  part 
of  the  Louisiana  Purchase  which  is  now  called  Mon- 
tana and  had  many  of  their  most  exciting  adventures 
there. 

Their  three  boats  reached  the  mouth  of  the  Yellow- 
stone on  April  25,  1805.  The  Indians  first,  and 
afterwards  the  French,  called  that  river  "Yellow" 
because  of  some  very  yellow  stones  which  glistened 
like  gold  along  the  upper  end  of  it.  The  explorers 
thought  this  was  a  good  point  for  a  fur-trading  post 
with  the  Indians;  and  afterwards,  in  1832,  Fort 
Union  was  built  there.  It  became  very  famous. 

Next  they  came  to  Milk  River.  They  called  it 
"Milk"  because  the  water  had  a  strange  whiteness, 
as  though  one  put  a  "teaspoonful  of  milk  in  a  dish 


24  MONTANA:   AN  HISTORICAL  READER 

of  tea,"  the  explorers  said.  But  the  Indians  called 
it  "the  river  which  scolds  at  all  the  other  rivers." 

All  the  way  up  the  river  they  saw  great  herds  of 
buffaloes,  deer,  elk,  antelope,  and  flocks  of  geese, 
ducks,  and  prairie  chickens.  They  saw  a  good  many 
brown  and  grizzly  bears,  which  were  very  fierce. 

One  day,  as  six  hunters  from  this  party,  all  good 
shots,  were  coming  along  the  river,  they  saw  a  large 
brown  bear.  Several  of  them  fired,  and  each  one  hit 
the  bear.  Although  wounded,  it  sprang  up  furiously 
and  ran  toward  the  men.  Two  more  of  them  shot  at 
it  and  broke  its  shoulder  bone.  Any  really  sensible 
bear  would  have  died  right  there,  with  all  those  bullet 
wounds;  but  not  this  one.  With  blazing  eyes  and 
wide-open  mouth  showing  its  enormous  teeth,  that 
bear  came  straight  at  the  hunters.  They  had  not 
time  to  reload  their  guns,  so  they  ran.  Two  jumped 
down  the  bank  into  a  canoe.  The  bear  chased  the 
other  four  into  the  willows,  following  close  at  their 
heels.  Two  of  these  four  threw  away  their  guns  and 
powder  pouches  and  jumped  down  a  twenty-foot  bank. 
Down  went  the  bear  after  them!  It  was  so  close  it  was 


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LEWIS  AND   CLARK  IN   MONTANA  25 

just  raising  its  paw  to  strike  one  of  the  hunters,  when 
bang!  —  the  bear  was  dead.  One  of  the  hunters  in 
the  canoe  had  sent  a  bullet  through  its  head  and  killed 
it.  But  eight  bullets,  in  all,  had  struck  that  bear! 

All  sorts  of  accidents,  on  water  and  land,  befell 
the  explorers  between  the  Yellowstone  River  and  the 
Great  Falls  of  the  Missouri.  Sometimes  it  was  a  fire, 
or  a  buffalo,  or  a  heavy  storm,  or  perhaps  just  a  slip 
of  the  foot  that  almost  cost  a  life. 

On  the  same  day  that  the  grizzly  w^as  killed,  a 
gust  of  wind  almost  capsized  one  of  the  canoes.  It 
happened  to  be  the  one  that  held  all  their  instruments 
for  measuring  the  heights  of  mountains,  for  taking 
latitude  and  longitude,  with  all  their  reports,  medicines, 
and  other  things  of  great  value.  If  that  canoe  had 
capsized  and  all  these  important  instruments  had  gone 
to  the  bottom  of  the  river,  the  explorers  would  have 
had  to  return  to  St.  Louis  without  crossing  the  moun- 
tains. But,  fortunately,  the  boat  was  righted  and 
everything  saved  through  the  quick-wTittedness  of  a 
squaw  named  Sacajawea,*  the  wife  of  the  guide.  It 

*  Pronounced  Sa-ca'-ja-vve-a. 


26  MONTANA:    AN  HISTORICAL  READER 

took  only  a  few  moments  and  seemed  a  little  thing 
to  do,  but  it  was  really  very  important. 

A  week  later,  a  tree  standing  in  the  middle  of  the 
camp  caught  fire  at  night.  When  the  men  awakened, 
it  had  almost  burned  down  and  they  had  to  hurry 
to  pull  their  things  away.  They  had  hardly  reached 
a  safe  place  when  the  tree  fell  on  the  very  spot  where 
they  had  just  been  sleeping. 

A  scared  buffalo  caused  a  great  commotion  a  few 
nights  after  this.  He  swam  across  the  river  in  the 
dark,  stumbled  over  a  canoe  and  broke  it  to  pieces, 
and  then,  frightened  by  the  camp-fire,  rushed  in 
among  the  men,  coming  within  eighteen  inches  of 
the  heads  of  a  row  of  sleepers.  The  more  the  sen- 
tinel tried  to  drive  him  away,  the  more  scared  became 
the  buffalo,  and  he  plunged  around  the  camp,  finally 
racing  almost  into  the  tent  where  Lewis  and  Clark 
were  sleeping.  The  barking  of  their  little  dog  fright- 
ened him  away,  and  at  last  he  plunged  back  into  the 
river  and  swam  to  the  other  side. 

When  Maria's  River  was  reached,  although  only  a 
branch  of  the  Missouri,  it  was  so  broad  a  stream  they 


LEWIS  AND   CLARK  IN  MONTANA  27 

could  not  tell  which  was  the  main  river.  The  only 
way  the  Indians  could  describe  the  true  Missouri  was 
to  say  it  had  great  waterfalls  in  it,  so  from  this  point 
they  were  always  on  the  lookout  for  waterfalls. 

Lewis;  with  a  few  men,  followed  Maria's  River 
for  three  or  four  days,  and  at  one  point  almost  lost  his 
life.  He  slipped  on  the  edge  of  a  ninety-foot  bluff 
and  just  saved  himself  from  going  into  the  river  below 
by  striking  his  pike  into  the  earth.  Then  gradually 
he  pulled  himself  back  from  the  edge.  Just  as  he 
reached  a  spot  where  he  could  stand  safely,  he  heard 
one  of  his  men  call,  "Captain,  what  shall  I  do?" 
The  man  had  slipped  in  just  the  same  way,  but  so  far 
that  already  one  arm  and  one  leg  were  over  the  edge. 
Captain  Lewis  told  him  to  hold  on  with  one  hand  and 
with  the  other  to  dig  a  little  hole  in  the  side  of  the  bluff 
with  his  knife.  It  was  not  an  easy  thing  to  do  for  a 
man  half  over  a  precipice,  but  when  it  was  done,  he 
braced  his  foot  in  the  hole  and  pulled  himself  back 
from  the  edge.  Then  he  took  off  his  moccasins,  that 
he  might  slip  less,  and  crawled  farther  back  on  his 
hands  and  knees. 


28  MONTANA:    AN  HISTORICAL  READER 

They  did  not  find  the  falls,  so  they  named  the  river 
and  returned  to  join  the  rest  of  the  party,  and  to  follow 
the  other  stream. 

Of  course,  Lewis  and  Clark  knew  nothing  what- 
ever of  the  region  in  which  they  found  themselves. 
They  knew  that  this  stream  must  be  either  the  Mis- 
souri or  a  branch,  that  the  Missouri  River  had  its 
head  waters  somewhere  in  the  mountains,  and  that 
they  were  going  to  cross  those  mountains  and  then 
travel  on  until  they  reached  the  Pacific  Ocean.  So 
Lewis,  with  four  men,  followed  the  river  on  foot,  as 
closely  as  they  could,  while  Clark,  with  the  rest  of  the 
men,  went  up  in  dugouts.  Two  of  the  large  boats 
in  which  they  left  St.  Louis  were  hidden,  because  the 
river  was  too  swift  for  them.  The  third  had  been 
wrecked. 

Lewis  and  his  men  marched  along  in  the  warm, 
clear  sunlight  of  a  beautiful  June  day,  with  a  fresh 
breeze  blowing  from  the  Shining  Mountains  which, 
all  white  with  snow,  glittered  in  the  sun.  Wild  flowers 
blossomed  everywhere,  and  great  herds  of  buffaloes 
roamed  over  the  plain  around  him.  It  was  a  glorious 


LEWIS  AND   CLARK   IN   MQNTANA  29 

morning,  and  Lewis  wrote  down  in  his  journal  that 
this  Land  of  the  Shining  Mountains  was  one  of  the 
most  beautiful  countries  he  had  ever  seen. 

On  he  marched,  following  the  river,  looking  for 
the  falls.  Hark!  What  was  that?  In  the  distance 
he  heard  a  noise  like  faint  thunder.  Then  he  saw 
something  which  looked  like  smoke  rising  across  the 
plain.  He  knew  in  a  minute  it  was  the  noise  and 
the  mist  from  the  Great  Falls  of  which  the  Indians 
had  told  him.  As  he  came  nearer  and  nearer,  the 
roar  of  falling  water  told  him  he  was  on  the  true  Mis- 
souri. Captain  Lewis  was  the  first  white  man  who 
ever  saw  the  Great  Falls  of  the  Missouri  River. 

The  five  men  camped  at  that  spot  until  Clark 
and  his  men  came  up  in  the  canoes. 

No  wronder  that  the  Indians  thought  that  it  was 
description  enough  to  say  that  the  Missouri  River 
had  falls  in  it.  The  stream,  beginning  at  this  point, 
for  eighteen  miles  is  a  series  of  falls.  There  are  five 
large  ones  and  several  smaller  ones.  Each  large  fall 
has  a  name  now,  such  as  Great  Falls,  Rainbow 
Falls,  and  one  is  called  the  Crooked  Falls.  In  this 


30  MONTANA:    AN  HISTORICAL  READER 

last  one  the  water  seems  to  run  in  every  direction.  It 
seems  to  flow  downwards,  crosswise,  and  every  queer 
way.  Some  people  say  it  even  falls  upstream. 

Now  the  explorers  had  found  it  hard  enough  to 
reach  the  falls,  but  they  found  it  even  harder  to  get 
away  from  them.  Those  eighteen  miles  of  falls 
were  impassable  for  canoes,  so  these  had  to  be  carried 
and  all  the  baggage  besides.  This  was  very  hard  for 
many  reasons.  The  ground  was  all  cut  by  ravines  and 
gullies.  Worse  than  that,  the  earth  —  a  kind  of  soil 
known  as  " gumbo"  —  when  wet  had  been  tramped 
over  by  buffaloes  with  their  split  hoofs,  so  when  it 
dried  it  was  all  in  little  hard,  sharp  points.  These 
sharp  points  and  the  thorns  from  the  prickly  pear 
cactus,  which  covered  the  ground,  cut  through  their 
moccasins.  For  their  shoes  had  worn  out  long  before. 
The  men  limped  all  the  time,  and  some  of  them 
could  hardly  stand.  Ordinary  walking  was  hard 
enough,  but  they  had  all  their  baggage  to  carry  as 
well.  How  were  they  to  do  that? 

Only  one  round  cottonwood  tree,  the  only  one 
within  twenty  miles,  was  large  enough  to  help  them. 


K 


LEWIS  AND   CLARK  IN  MONTANA  31 

After  chopping  the  tree  down,  they  cut  off  round  slices 
to  use  as  wheels  for  hauling  the  canoes:  That  saved 
some  w^ork;  but  the  axles,  being  of  soft  wood,  broke 
constantly  as  the  canoes  were  pulled  through  gullies 
and  ravines  on  these  home-made  wheels.  Besides  all 
that,  the  weather  became  intensely  hot,  grizzly  bears 
were  very  savage  and  often  attacked  them,  thunder- 
storms sent  down  showers  of  hailstones,  and  a  cloud- 
burst nearly  drowned  one  of  the  captains,  the  guide, 
and  Sacajawea.  The  explorers  were  glad  indeed  to 
get  their  baggage  past  the  falls  and  launch  their  dug- 
outs again. 

After  leaving  the  Great  Falls,  they  followed  the 
river  through  the  Gates  of  the  Mountains,  a  wonder- 
ful canyon  about  eighteen  miles  from  Helena,  up  to 
the  Three  Forks  of  the  Missouri.  Here  they  rested 
a  while  and  prepared  for  crossing  the  mountains.  They 
hunted  buffaloes  and  deer,  "jerked"  the  meat,  made 
pemmican,  and  gathered  all  the  food  they  could. 
Sacajawea  made  moccasins  for  them  and  helped  them 
to  make  clothes  from  skins. 

At  this   point    and    at  other  places  in    Montana, 


MONTANA:   AN  HISTORICAL  READER 

the  explorers  had  to  cache,  or  hide,  things  which  they 
could  not  carry  with  them.  They  hoped  to  find  these 
hidden  things  when  they  returned. 

A  cache,  as  made  by  Lewis  and  Clark,  was  simply 
a  big  hole  in  the  ground,  with  a  narrow  opening  at 
the  top.  To  prevent  the  fresh  earth  from  attracting 
attention,  it  was  piled  on  blankets  as  it  was  taken  out 
of  the  hole  and  thrown  into  the  river.  When  the  hole 
was  completed,  the  bottom  was  filled  three  or  four 
inches  deep  with  brushwood,  because  water  might 
collect  there.  A  buffalo  robe  was  laid  over  the  brush. 
Brushwood  was  also  put  at  the  sides  of  the  hole  to 
prevent  anything  from  touching  the  damp  earth. 
Then  the  men  packed  in  all  the  corn,  pork,  flour, 
powder,  lead,  and  tools  which  they  could  not  carry 
over  the  mountains,  put  buffalo  skins  on  top  of  all, 
filled  in  some  earth,  and  finally  replaced  the  little 
piece  of  sod  on  top.  Some  fallen  trees  were  thrown 
over  the  cache  to  prevent  wild  animals  from  digging 
it  up,  and  everything  possible  was  done  to  hide  all 
traces  of  it  from  the  Indians. 

But  of   the  three   or  four  caches  which  Lewis  and 


LEWIS  AND   CLARK  IN  MONTANA  33 

Clark  made,  only  one  was  in  good  order  when  they 
returned  from  the  coast.  Through  heavy  rains  the 
others  had  fallen  in  and  all  the  supplies,  except  the 
powder  in  lead  cans,  were  spoiled. 

The  explorers  thought  it  strange  they  met  no 
Indians,  since  all  the  trails  in  Montana  led  to  the 
Three  Forks.  It  was  a  beautiful  country,  always  full 
of  game,  and  the  Indians  often  came  there  to  hunt. 
From  the  north  came  the  Blackfeet;  from  the  east 
and  south  the  Bannacks  and  Crows;  from  the  west, 
the  Flatheads  and  Kalispels  (popularly  known  as 
Pend  d'Oreilles*) ;  from  the  northwest,  the  Shoshones,-)- 
or  Snakes.  Because  the  tribes  met  there  so  often  in 
their  hunting,  Three  Forks  became  a  general  Indian 
battle  ground. 

Friendly  Indians  were  needed  now.  Lewis  and 
Clark  wanted  to  cross  the  mountains,  and  the  squaw 
wanted  to  find  her  own  people.  She  was  a  Shoshone 
Indian  who  had  been  taken  prisoner  at  the  Three 
Forks  when  she  was  a  young  girl.  Now,  with  her 
tiny  papoose  on  her  back,  she  was  leading  the  ex- 

*  Pron6unced  Pond-o-ray'.     t  Pronounced  Sho-sho'-nees. 


34  MONTANA:   AN  HISTORICAL  READER 

plorers  into  her  own  country.  She  recognized  certain 
places,  with  her  wonderful  Indian  memory,  although 
she  had  seen  them  only  once  before.  So  she  knew 
where  to  go,  and  that  was  a  great  deal  more  than  the 
guide  or  any  of  the  white  men  knew. 

At  last,  one  day  as  Lewis,  with  two  men,  was 
marching  along  the  Jefferson,  he  saw  an  Indian.  He 
took  a  blanket,  threw  it  over  his  head,  and  brought 
it  down  to  the  ground  unfolded,  as  though  spreading 
a  seat  for  a  guest.  This  was  the  Indian  way  of  saying 
he  was  a  friend.  But  the  man  ran  away. 

Next  day,  Lewis  met  two  more  Indians  with  a  dog. 
They  also  ran  away.  The  whites  followed  a  well- 
beaten  trail  and  soon  came  across  three  Indian  squaws. 
They  were  badly  frightened  and  threw  their  buffalo 
robes  over  their  heads,  which  meant  that  they  expected 
to  be  killed.  The  whites  gave  them  presents  and 
painted  their  faces.  They  had  hardly  finished  when 
they  heard  a  war-cry,  and  down  came  a  crowd  of 
yelling,  whooping  braves,  ready  to  fight. 

Now,  to  paint  an  Indian's  face,  or  to  give  him 
paint  for  his  face,  in  those  days,  was  to  make  an 


LEWIS  AND   CLARK  IN  MONTANA  35 

Indian  your  friend.  The  squaws  showed  their 
painted  faces  to  their  own  tribe,  and  immediately  the 
braves,  to  show  how  friendly  they  were,  rubbed  their 
own  greasy,  painted  cheeks  against  the  cheeks  of  the 
white  men.  The  whites  had  to  take  all  this  without 
showing  annoyance,  for  the  good  will  of  these  Indians 
was  necessary. 

Now  came  a  great  surprise.  Sacajawea  found 
that  the  chief  of  this  tribe  was  her  own  brother.  When 
she  told  him  how  good  the  whites  had  been  to  her,  he 
sold  the  explorers  horses,  gave  them  food,  and  helped 
them  to  cross  the  mountains.  Without  the  help  of 
these  Shoshones,  the  explorers  would  have  had  a 
great  deal  of  troublee 

After  crossing  the  mountains,  they  met,  at  Ross's 
Hole,  a  party  of  Indians  whom  they  called  Ootlashoots. 
These  Ootlashoots  were  really  our  own  Flathead 
Indians.  They,  too,  were  very  friendly,  holding  a 
great  council  of  peace  and  selling  them  horses. 

A  few  years  ago,  the  grandson  of  one  of  these 
early  Flatheads  told  Father  d'Aste  of  the  St.  Ignatius 
Mission  what  the  Indians  thought  of  this  meeting. 


36  MONTANA:    AN   HISTORICAL  READER 

He  said  the  old  chief  did  not  at  first  know  what 
to  think  of  men  who  did  not  wear  buffalo  robes.  He 
had  never  seen  one  before  and  he  thought  they  must 
be  enemies.  But  when  they  seemed  friendly,  he 
called  a  council. 

At  this  council  were  many  of  the  important  men 
and  the  chiefs  of  the  Flatheads,  and  these  two  strange- 
looking  white  men.  In  the  pipe  of  peace,  the  Indians 
used,  instead  of  tobacco,  kinnikinnick.  Lewis  and 
Clark  did  not  like  the  taste  of  it,  so  they  offered  the 
Indians  some  real  tobacco.  The  red  men  attempted 
to  smoke  this  but  it  was  so  strong  they  began  to  sneeze 
and  cough,  and  Lewis  and  Clark  had  a  good  laugh 
over  all  their  sneezing  and  sputtering.  Then  the 
explorers  took  the  pipe,  filled  it  with  half  kinnikinnick 
and  half  tobacco.  That  pleased  the  council  im- 
mensely. After  the  different  tribes  of  Western  In- 
dians had  learned  to  use  tobacco,  it  became  a  valued 
possession  and  was  always  a  welcome  gift  from  the 
whites. 

After  Lewis  and  Clark  had  visited  with  the  Flat- 
heads  for  three  days,  they  started  off  again  to  find  the 


LEWIS  AND   CLARK  IN   MONTANA  37 

Pacific  Ocean,  and  the  red  men  pointed  out  to  them 
the  Lo  Lo  trail  as  the  easiest  way  of  crossing  the 
Bitter  Root  Mountains. 

The  crossing  of  the  Bitter  Roots  was  the  hardest 
work  which  the  explorers  had  done  since  they  left 
St.  Louis.  These  mountains  are  sometimes  called 
"Savage,"  it  is  so  difficult  to  travel  through  them. 
They  are  covered  with  dense  forests,  with  thick  under- 
brush. There  were  no  trails  then,  and  fallen  trees  lay 
everywhere.  Boats  could  not  be  used  because  the  rivers 
were  all  in  deep  gorges,  or  full  of  waterfalls  and  rapids. 
There  were  deep  ravines  and  wild  canyons  to  cross. 

They  had  to  move  slowly  through  such  difficulties, 
yet  they  needed  to  hurry  because  there  was  already 
snow  on  the  mountains,  and  food  was  very  scarce. 
There  was  little  game  in  the  Bitter  Roots,  and  hunt- 
ing was  almost  impossible. 

Finally,  after  much  suffering,  they  succeeded  in 
crossing,  and  then  followed  the  Columbia  River  to 
the  Pacific  Ocean.  After  some  months  they  came 
back  among  the  Shining  Mountains  on  their  return 
to  St.  Louis. 


38  MONTANA:    AN  HISTORICAL  READER 

On  their  way  back  after  crossing  the  mountains 
they  separated  into  two  parties.  Captain  Lewis,  with 
nine  men,  went  straight  to  the  Great  Falls  of  the 
Missouri,  then  down  the  river  to  the  mouth  of  the 
Yellowstone.  But  in  another  side  trip  to  Maria's 
River,  he  was  attacked  by  Blackfeet,  who  tried  to 
run  off  his  horses.  To  save  the  horses  and  baggage, 
he  shot  a  brave.  The  tribe  never  forgot  it.  John 
Colter,  a  year  or  two  later,  shot  another  Blackfoot, 
so  the  tribe  regarded  all  whites  as  their  enemies. 
For  years  and  years  afterwards,  the  Blackfeet  killed 
in  revenge  every  white  man  they  met. 

Captain  Clark,  with  the  rest  of  the  men,  went 
back  to  the  Three  Forks  of  the  Missouri,  then  over  to 
the  Yellowstone  and  down  that  river  to  where  it  flows 
into  the  Missouri.  There  he  met  Lewis.  They 
started  down  the  Missouri  to  St.  Louis,  where  they 
all  arrived  safely.  Although  they  had  spent  two  years 
in  the  Indian  country,  not  a  single  man  in  the  entire 
party  had  been  killed  by  redskins. 


CHAPTER  III 

A   RACE   FOR   LIFE.— THE    TRAPPERS 

OUCH  dangers  as  the  early  trappers  had  to  face! 
A  poisoned  arrow  from  an  Assiniboin*  hidden 
in  the  brush,  or  the  quick  bang!  from  the  rifle  of  a 
Blackfoot  concealed  behind  a  rock,  and  the  trapper, 
alone  in  the  great  forest,  falls  dead.  The  Indian 
takes  his  beaver  traps,  his  clothing,  and  his  gun,  but 
above  all,  takes  his  scalp  to  wave  at  the  end  of  a  stick 
at  the  next  scalp-dance.  The  trapper's  body  is  left 
for  the  wolves.  No  one  ever  knows  what  has  become 
of  him. 

Captain  Wyeth  led  two  hundred  trappers  into 
the  mountains  in  1832,  but  at  the  end  of  three  years 
only  forty  were  alive.  Some  had  been  killed  by 
Indians,  and  their  scalps  decorated  the  tepees  of 
Blackfeet  and  Crows.  But  even  if  a  trapper  escaped 
the  Indians,  who  seemed  to  lurk  behind  every  bush 
and  tree,  there  were  other  great  dangers.  Thousands 

*As-sin'-i-boin:   the  word  means  "stone-boilers."     (See  last  chapter.) 

39 


40  MONTANA:    AN  HISTORICAL  READER 

of  hungry  wolves  ranged  through  the  forest.  In  the 
cold  of  Winter,  when  snow  lay  deep  on  the  mountains, 
when  the  hunter  set  his  traps  and  watched  them, 
wild  animals  also  watched  his  trail. 

Trappers  were  in  constant  danger  from  'freezing, 
from  starvation,  and  from  accidents  of  all  sorts,  such 
as  falling  trees,  snow-slides  and  rock-slides,  and  from 
wild  animals  and  Indians.  In  the  Spring,  as  they 
paddled  their  canoes  or  bull-boats  along  the  streams, 
they  were  in  danger,  also,  from  whirlpools  and  rapids. 

Such  was  the  constant  life  of  trappers.  No  wonder 
that  from  their  tattered  buckskin  clothing,  long  hair, 
and  brown,  weather-worn  faces,  even  Indians  could 
not  at  first  glance  tell  that  they  were  white  men. 

Just  this  sort  of  a  man  was  John  Colter.  He 
crossed  the  Shining  Mountains  with  Lewis  and  Clark, 
and  then,  after  the  expedition  was  over,  he  came  back 
into  the  mountains  to  trap.  His  race  for  life  from 
the  Indians  in  1808  is  one  of  the  most  thrilling  stories 
of  Montana  history. 

Colter  and  a  man  named  Potts  were  trapping  on 
the  lowrer  Jefferson.  Early  one  misty  morning,  as 


A  RACE  FOR  LIFE.— THE  TRAPPERS  41 

they  paddled  along  in  their  dugout,  they  heard  a  noise 
like  the  tramping  of  buffaloes.  They  stopped  rowing 
for  a  few  minutes,  but  decided  it  was  only  a  herd 
along  the  bank  and  paddled  on,  although  they  knew 
it  was  getting  dangerously  light.  As  they  turned 
a  bend  in  the  river,  the  fog  lifted.  On  the  banks, 
silent  as  the  rocks  around  them,  stood  hundreds  of 
Blackfoot  warriors  in  war-paint  and  feathers.  An 
Indian  scout  had  seen  the  trappers  and  notified  the 
whole  wrar-band. 

The  moment  they  knew  the  whites  saw  them,  the 
Blackf  eet  gave  their  war-cry  -  -  the  most  terrible  war- 
cry  of  any  Indian  tribe.  There  was  no  hope  of  escape 
for  the  stream  was  very  narrow  with  Indians  on  both 
sides.  The  chief  motioned  the  trappers  to  come 
ashore,  and  Colter  steered  the  canoe  in  to  the  bank. 
Instantly  an  Indian  seized  Potts's  gun.  Colter  jumped 
out  of  the  canoe,  snatched  the  gun  from  the  Indian, 
and  handed  it  back  ,to  Potts.  It  was  a  daring  thing 
to  do.  Potts  was  not  so  brave.  With  a  quick  motion 
of  the  paddle,  he  tried  to  push  the  dugout  into  the 
stream.  "Don't  run,  Potts,"  Colter  yelled.  But  a 


42  MONTANA:    AN  HISTORICAL  READER 

Blackfoot  warrior  was  quicker  and  wounded  Potts 
with  an  arrow.  Frightened  and  angry,  Potts  seized 
his  gun  and  shot  the  Blackfoot  dead.  In  a  second, 
dozens  of  arrows  were  fired  at  poor  Potts  who  fell 
dead  in  the  bottom  of  the  little  canoe. 

The  Blackfeet  were, certain  that  Colter  could  not 
escape.  They  admired  him  as  a  brave  man  because 
he  had  dared  to  seize  that  gun.  They  intended  to  kill 
him  and  take  his  scalp,  for  the  Blackfeet  were  the  most 
savage  enemies  of  the  whites;  but  they  first  wanted 
some  fun.  They  took  his  gun  away,  stripped  him 
of  all  his  clothes,  took  him  out  a  little  way  on  the  plain, 
and  made  him  understand,  by  signs,  that  he  would 
have  to  run  for  his  life.  He  understood  the  signs 
clearly  enough. 

Colter  was  a  very  swift  runner,  and  knowing  that 
torture  and  death  would  be  his  fate  if  he  did  not  escape, 
he  bounded  away  like  an  antelope,  the  Indians  after 
him.  The  plain  was  covered  with  prickly  pear  cactus, 
but  with  five  or  six  hundred  Indian  warriors  after  him, 
with  the  terrible  war-cry  ringing  in  his  ears,  he  gave 
little  heed  to  the  thorny  ground.  On  and  on  he 


A  RACE   FOR  LIFE.— THE  TRAPPERS  43 

fairly  flew  straight  across  the  plain  for  six  miles.  The 
Indians,  one  by  one,  dropped  behind. 

Colter  had  almost  reached  the  river  for  which  he 
was  headed  when  the  terrible  exertion  broke  a  blood 
vessel  and  blood  poured  from  his  mouth  and  nose. 
Just  then  he  heard  a  sound  near  him,  and  glancing 
over  his  shoulder  he  saw  three  warriors  behind  him. 
One  wras  close  to  him,  ready  to  throw  a  spear. 

Colter  turned  suddenly  and  so  awful  was  his 
appearance,  all  covered  with  blood,  that  the  Indian 
was  startled  and  stumbled,  breaking  his  spear. 
Quick  as  a  flash  Colter  seized  the  shaft  of  the  spear, 
pinned  him  to  the  earth  with  it,  and  ran  on.  The 
other  Blackfeet  had  almost  caught  up,  but  they 
stopped  to  help  the  fallen  Indian.  That  saved  Colter. 
He  reached  the  river,  jumped  in,  and  swam  to  an 
island  in  the  centre  of  it. 

On  this  island  the  current  had  formed  a  raft  of 
driftwood,  and  under  this  he  dived,  coming  up  in  a 
spot  where  he  could  keep  his  head  above  water  be- 
tween two  logs.  There  he  stayed  all  day  long,  hearing 
the  blood-curdling  Blackfoot  war-cry,  as  the  Indians 


44  MONTANA:    AN  HISTORICAL  READER 

searched  the  river  banks  and  the  raft  for  him.  He 
could  hear  their  voices  and  their  footsteps,  they  were 
sometimes  so  near.  But  strange  to  say,  they  could 
not  find  him.  He  seemed  to  have  vanished,  and 
finally  they  gave  up  the  search. 

After  dark,  Colter  swam  down  the  stream  for 
some  distance,  then  across  to  the  opposite  side  of 
the  river. 

He  was  still  in  very  great  danger.  He  was  ex- 
hausted from  his  run.  He  had  no  clothes,  no  food, 
and  no  gun.  The  woods  were  full  of  wolves,  grizzly 
bears,  panthers,  and  other  wild  animals,  but  he  could 
not  kill  any  of  them,  either  to  protect  himself  or  for 
food.  He  had  no  way  to  make  a  fire  except  the  Indian 
way  of  rubbing  two  sticks  together,  but  with  Black- 
feet  near  him,  as  well  as  other  tribes,  he  did  not  dare 
to  do  even  that,  for  fear  the  smoke  would  betray  him. 
The  nearest  white  men  were  at  Lisa's  Fort,  far  away 
over  the  mountains,  and  his  feet  were  so  torn  by  that 
terrible  run  over  the  prickly  pears  that  he  could 
hardly  stand  upon  them.  What  was  he  to  do  ? 

Now  Colter  was  an  American  trapper,  and  Amer- 


A  RACE   FOR   LIFE.  — THE  TRAPPERS  45 

ican  trappers  were  the  boldest,  most  daring  men  that 
ever  lived.  If  Colter  did  not  reach  Lisa's  Fort  at  the 
mouth  of  the  Big  Horn,  he  would  either  starve  to 
death,  be  killed  by  the  wild  creatures  of  the  forest, 
or  be  caught  again  by  the  Indians.  So  he  started 
for  the  fort. 

He  crossed  the  Gallatin  Valley,  went  up  through 
the  Bozeman  Pass,  and  over  the  mountains  to  the 
Yellowstone  River,  following  the  river  to  the  fort  at 
the  mouth  of  the  Big  Horn.  Seven  long  days  that 
journey  took  —  seven  days  without  clothes,  or  fire, 
or  even  food  except  berries  and  some  roots  which  he 
dug  up  with  his  fingers  or  with  a  stick. 

At  the  fort  the  traders  gave  him  food,  clothes,  a 
gun,  powder,  and  bullets,  and  he  stayed  there  for  a 
time.  He  showed  his  courage  by  trapping  in  the 
mountains  for  another  year  before  he  went  back  to 
"the  States,"  as  all  the  country  east  of  the  Mississippi 
River  was  called.  There  he  married,  and,  so  far  as 
known,  did  not  return  to  the  Shining  Mountains. 
After  he  went  East,  he  told  the  story  of  his  race  with 
the  Blackfoot  Indians,  but  no  one  wTould  believe  him. 


46  MONTANA:    AN   HISTORICAL   READER 

It  was  only  after  the  Blackfeet  themselves  had  told 
the  whites  that  his  story  was  true,  that  Colter  was 
believed. 

Colter  was  the  first  white  man  to  go  into  the 
Yellowstone  Park  country.  No  one  yet  knew  anything 
about  the  geysers,  the  great  mounds  of  brightly  colored 
sands,  the  grand  canyon,  and  all  the  strange  wonders 
of  the  place.  Indians  were  afraid  of  it  because  of 
the  strange  noises  there.  They  called  it  the  "place 
of  evil  spirits."  Colter  first  told  other  traders  and 
trappers  about  this  wonderful  country,  with  the  queer, 
rumbling  noises  under  ground;  and  for  many  years 
one  section  of  it  was  called  Colter's  Hell. 

Other  trappers,  perhaps,  did  not  have  such  a  race 
for  life  as  Colter  did,  but  they  were  always  in  danger. 
Yet  some  of  them  liked  that  wrild,  free  life  much  better 
than  living  in  towns  or  on  farms. 

Many  of  the  trappers  married  Indian  women, 
adopted  Indian  clothes  and  customs,  even  wearing 
blankets,  and  some  became  chiefs  in  their  adopted 
tribes.  One  such  trapper,  named  Meldrum,  liked 
Indian  life  so  much  that  he  married  a  Crow  woman, 


JIM   BRIDGER,   THE  TRAPPER 


A  RACE  FOR  LIFE.  — THE  TRAPPERS  47 

his  tepee  forming  one  of  the  circle  in  the  Crow  en- 
campment. It  is  said  that  he  glued  long  hair  to  his 
own  scalp,  because  long  hair  to  an  Indian  is  a  sign 
of  freedom,  and  a  short-haired  man  could  not  become 
a  chief. 

Two  famous  Rocky  Mountain  trappers  were 
William  Sublette  and  James  Bridger.  They  went 
into  the  Shining  Mountains  about  1820.  Bridger 
discovered  Great  Salt  Lake,  and  he  was  so  famous 
as  a  guide  that  the  United  States  Government  often 
employed  him.  Men  said  he  could  "smell  his  way 
when  he  couldn't  see  it."  With  a  buffalo  skin  and 
a  piece  of  charcoal  from  the  camp-fire,  he  could  draw 
a  map  of  any  part  of  the  mountains. 

Bridger  had  been  in  Yellowstone  Park,  and  he 
used  to  tell  such  strange  stories  about  the  geysers  and 
other  queer  things  in  that  region  that  people  would 
not  believe  him.  Afterwards  they  found  that  what 
he  had  sard  was  true.  He  took  his  revenge,  however, 
by  answering  every  question  asked  him  with  a  mar- 
vellous story.  He  told  one  talkative  young  man 
about  a  great  mountain  of  glass,  and  he  pointed  out 


48  MONTANA.    AN   HISTORICAL  READER 

the  spot  where  it  lay  on  the  plains.  The  young  man 
looked  and  looked,  but  could  see  nothing.  Of  course 
he  could  n't  see  it,  Bridger  told  him  contemptuously, 
because  it  was  pure  glass.  The  glass  was  so  clear, 
he  declared,  that  he  could  hardly  see  it  even  when  he 
was  climbing  the  mountain  itself.  He  told  a  great 
many  other  tales  that  were  equally  wonderful  and 
equally  false. 

But  \vhether  the  trappers  were  famous  ones  like 
Colter,  Bridger,  Sublette,  and  a  few  others,  or 
whether  they  were  utterly  unknown,  they  all  ran  the 
same  risks.  Every  man  who  went  into  the  Shining 
Mountains  took  his  life  in  his  hands.  Their  courage 
and  their  daring  make  it  worth  while  to  know  about 
them. 

Their  work  was  important,  too.  When  the 
United  States  Government  wanted  to  explore  the 
Rocky  Mountains,  it  had  no  one  except  these  brave 
trappers  to  guide  their  surveying  parties,  or  the  men 
sent  out  to  make  treaties  with  the  Indians.  Only 
the  trappers  knew  the  paths  over  the  Shining  Mountains 
and  through  the  dense  forests.  Only  they  knew  the 


A  RACE  FOR   LIFE.— THE  TRAPPERS  49 

Indian  signs --the  meaning  of  a  broken  twig  on 
the  trail,  a  light  column  of  smoke  rising  from  a 
distant  mountain,  or  a  dead  buffalo  along  their  path. 
They  knew  how  to  avoid  a  wrar-party,  or  where  to  find 
friendly  Indians  when  they  were  starving.  They 
could  even  tell,  from  the  faint  trace  of  a  moccasin  in 
the  dust,  whether  the  last  Indian  who  passed  was  a 
Blackfoot  or  a  Crow. 

So  the  trappers,  both  as  hunters  and  as  guides, 
played  a  very  important  part  in  the  history  of  the 
Shining  Mountains. 


CHAPTER  IV 

FURS,    FORTS,    AND   FIGHTS 

"CMJRS    brought  white  men  into  the  Indian  country; 
forts  were   needed    to    protect  them   while  there; 
and    sometimes,    around    the    forts,    occurred    sharp 
fights. 

These  forts,  which  were  really  trading  posts,  had 
to  have  heavy  outside  walls  over  which  Indians  could 
not  climb  and  to  which  they  could  not  set  fire.  They 
had  to  contain  enough  buildings  to  shelter  all  the  men 
-  sometimes  thirty  or  forty  —  employed  there.  Each 
fort  had  to  have  in  it  a  storehouse  for  the  beads, 
calicoes,  blankets,  and  powder  which  they  traded 
with  the  Indians.  There  had  to  be  room  to  store  the 
furs  brought  in,  until  they  could  be  sent  down  the 
river  in  the  Spring.  So,  in  building  these  trading 
posts,  the  companies  had  to  plan  for  two  things:  one 
was  to  keep  the  Indians  outside;  the  other  was  to 
have  room  enough  for  themselves  and  their  supplies. 

The  strong  outside  wall  was  called  a  stockade.     It 

50 


FURS,   FORTS,   AND   FIGHTS  51 

was  usually  built  of  big  tree-trunks,  perhaps  twenty 
feet  long,  set  very  closely  together.  Sometimes,  just 
behind,  there  would  be  another  row  of  tree-trunks  to 
cover  the  cracks  where  the  trees  joined.  Or  sometimes 
the  trees  were  hewn  square,  and  only  one  row  used. 
The  upper  ends  of  these  great  logs  were  always  shar- 
pened, to  prevent  Indians  from  climbing  over. 

Two  of  the  corners  of  the  outside  wall  were  built 
out  into  little  square  block- 
houses, sometimes  in- 
correctly called  bastions. 
These  extended  outside  the 
stockade  so  that  Indians 
could  not  come  anywhere 
near  it  without  being  in  the 


A,  a  —  blockhouses 

range  of  guns  and  cannon 


from  the  blockhouses.     If  you  will  look  at  the  draw- 
ing  you  will  see  what  is  meant. 

Fort  Union,  almost  at  the  union  of  the  Missouri 
and  Yellowstone  Rivers,  was  one  of  the  most  important 
of  the  early  forts.  It  was  finished  in  1832,  and  was 
240  x  320  feet.  It  was  just  outside  of  the  present 


52  MONTANA:    AN  HISTORICAL  READER 

boundary-line  of  Montana,  yet  its  whole  history  is 
bound  up  with  the  Montana  fur-trade. 

Fort  Benton  was  another  well-known  post.  It 
was  in  the  Blackfoot  country,  at  the  head  of  navigation 
on  the  Missouri  River,  and  was  rebuilt  of  adobe 
bricks. 

Forts  differed  somewhat  in  plan,  yet  since  they 
all  had  the  same  object  —  the  safety  of  men  and  supplies 
-  the  general  arrangement  was  mucji  the  same. 
Suppose  you  enter  one  of  them. 

In  one  side  of  the  heavy  stockade  are  big  double 
gates.  One  of  these  gates  has  a  very  small  door  in  it, 
through  which,  in  case  of  danger,  the  trader  could 
admit  a  single  person  or  could  talk  to  the  Indians 
without  admitting  them.  When  you  enter  this  big 
gate,  you  find  yourself  in  an  out-of-doors  room,  with 
no  roof  except  the  sky.  Behind  you  are  the  strong 
outside  gates  through  which  you  entered.  On  the 
other  three  sides  of  you  are  solid  log  walls  which 
are  the  backs  of  the  houses  and  the  store.  One  has 
loopholes  for  guns,  but  one  side  wall  has  only  a  single 
opening,  eighteen  inches  square.  This  is  the  "trad- 


FURS,   FORTS,  AND  FIGHTS  53 

ing  hole"  and  is  the  only  entrance  to  the  store  from 
this  "  pen."  This  opening  has  a  heavy  shutter  which 
can  be  fastened  on  the  inside.  You  can  see  from 
this  arrangement  how  afraid  the  traders  were  of  the 
Indians. 

When  the  Indians  came  to  trade,  the  chief  trader 
waited  until  a  crowd  had  gathered  in  front  of  the 
double  gates.  When  he  opened  it,  he  let  in  as  many 
Indians  as  could  crowd  into  this  out-of-doors  room, 
or  "pen,"  shut  the  big  gate  and  locked  it.  Then  he 
climbed  through  the  trading  hole  into  the  store  and 
was  ready  for  business. 

The  Indians  were  really  prisoners.  They  had  to 
leave  their  guns,  or  bows  and  arrows,  and  tomahawks 
outside,  and  if  they  showed  signs  of  being  treacherous, 
guns  were  pointed  at  them  through  the  loopholes  in 
the  log  walls. 

One  by  one  they  brought  their  furs  to  the  trading 
hole,  and  told  the  trader  what  they  wanted.  He 
looked  over  the  furs,  counted  them,  and  handed  out 
of  the  hole  the  calico,  or  blankets,  or  bullets,  or  whiskey, 
or  whatever  the  Indians  wanted  in  exchange.  When 


54  MONTANA:    AN  HISTORICAL  READER 

all  those  in  the  pen  had  traded,  he  climbed  out  through 
the  trading  hole  as  he  came  in,  opened  the  gates,  let 
out  the  first  crowd  and  let  in  a  second.  A  third  and 
a  fourth  group  would  enter  in  the  same  way,  until 
all  the  Indians  had  sold  their  furs. 

After  they  had  finished  trading,  the  red  men  would 
hang  around  the  fort  a  few  days,  drinking  and  some- 
times becoming  very  noisy  and  dangerous,  until  the 
trader  would  have  to  order  them  off.  When  they 
went,  however  friendly,  they  nearly  always  tried  to 
steal  a  few  horses.  These,  with  the  mules,  hogs,  and 
chickens,  were  kept  outside  the  fort  during  the  day, 
guarded  by  herdsmen.  They  were  usually  brought 
inside  the  walls  at  night.  War-parties  would  some- 
times run  off  every  horse  belonging  to  the  post.  Then 
the  hunters  had  to  go  on  foot  until  they  could  trade 
with  other  Indians  for  new  horses. 

The  forts  were  not  very  often  attacked;  but  at  one 
time  Crow  Indians  besieged  Fort  Sarpy,  on  the  Yellow- 
stone, merely  because  they  were  tired  of  seeing 
whites  in  their  country.  They  set  up  their  tepees  a 
quarter  of  a  mile  away  and  posted  warriors  around 


FURS,  FORTS,  AND  FIGHTS  55 

the  fort  so  that  no  one  could  leave  it,  but  they  did 
not  fire  a  shot.  Yet  it  was  a  serious  matter  for  the 
fort. 

Like  every  one  else  in  the  Indian  country,  these 
traders  lived  on  fresh  meat.  When  the  hunters  could 
not  get  out  of  the  fort,  they  not  only  had  no  meat,  but 
had  no  vegetables,  since  the  few  gardens  were  attached 
only  to  the  older,  better-established  forts.  Ordinarily 
they  ate  camas  roots,  wild  onions,  and  wild  berries 
as  vegetables;  but  these,  too,  grew  outside  of  the  fort. 
In  a  day  or  two  the  fresh  meat  gave  out;  then  the  men 
ate  the  jerked  meat  and  pemmican  which  had  been 
stored  away  for  an  emergency.  When  nothing  else 
was  left,  the  dogs  inside  the  walls  were  eaten,  and  the 
horses  would  have  been,  too,  if  the  Crows  had  not 
already  stolen  them.  The  traders  had  dug  a  well  in 
the  centre  of  the  fort,  so  they  had  fresh  water,  but 
that  was  all.  Nothing  was  left  but  some  pieces  of 
buffalo  hide.  These  the  starving  men  boiled  until  they 
were  soft  like  glue,  but  it  was  horrible  food. 

Still  the  Indians  did  not  attack  the  fort  —  did 
not  fire  a  shot.  They  were  trying  to  starve  out  the 


56  MONTANA:    AN  HISTORICAL  READER 

whites.  The  fort  was  supplied  with  guns  and  cannon, 
of  course,  but  the  Indians  so  outnumbered  the  whites 
the  traders  were  afraid  to  begin  a  battle.  To  have 
these  terrible  Indians  swarm  down  upon  them,  break 
down  their  walls,  and  either  kill  them  outright  or  take 
them  prisoners,  scalp  and  torture  them --that  was 
even  harder  than  starving  to  death.  Finally,  how- 
ever, the  chief  trader  learned  that  a  few  of  the  men 
had  planned  to  steal  a  boat,  slip  out  of  the  fort,  and 
escape  down  the  river  by  night.  All  could  not  get 
away,  and  he  knew  that  if  the  Indians  learned  that 
some  of  the  men  had  gone,  they  would  attack  the  fort 
at  once  and  scalp  every  one  in  it.  What  was  he  to  do  ? 
At  last,  although  he  was  afraid  of  bringing  on  a 
fight,  he  warned  the  Crows  that  if  they  did  not  go  by 
noon  of  the  next  day,  he  would  shoot.  The  Indians 
laughed.  Precisely  at  noon  the  next  day  the  cannon 
was  loaded  and  aimed  at  the  centre  of  the  camp. 
Crash!  went  the  shot  through  the  tepees,  breaking 
a  few  all  to  pieces,  scattering  everything  in  them,  and 
knocking  the  Crows  down.  Now  a  cannon  was  "big 
medicine"  of  which  the  Crows  were  thoroughly  afraid. 


Photo,  by  K.  B.  J. 


A  ROAD  THROUGH  THE  TAMARACKS 

Near  Lake  McDonald 


FURS,   FORTS,   AND   FIGHTS  57 

In  a  twinkling  the  squaws  wrere  busy  pulling  down 
the  tepees,  and  away  the  Indians  went.  They  felt 
so  disgraced  by  this  failure  against  the  whites  that 
they  sent  a  big  war-party  against  another  Indian 
tribe  to  make  up  for  it.  But  the  traders  were  only 
too  glad  to  see  those  Crows  go  scurrying  across  the 
country. 

Occasionally  two  bands  that  were  enemies  met 
at  the  fort,  and  that  meant  a  fight.  In  1833  a  band 
of  Piegans  were  trading  at  Fort  McKenzie,  near  the 
mouth  of  Maria's  River.  They  had  been  at  peace 
with  the  Assiniboins;  but  suddenly  one  morning,  just 
at  daybreak,  the  Assiniboins  swooped  down  upon  the 
sleeping  Piegans.  Tepees  were  cut  to  pieces  and 
many  braves  killed  before  the  Piegans  were  awake. 
These  Indians  were  friendly  with  the  fort  and  had  just 
sold  the  trader  thousands  of  buffalo  robes,  so  the  whites 
opened  the  big  gates  to  let  the  frightened  Piegans  in. 
But  the  squaws  were  so  anxious  to  save  everything 
that  they  blocked  the  gates  with  saddles,  blankets, 
and  all  their  other  property.  They  could  not  them- 
selves get  in,  and  eight  or  ten  were  killed  in  the  door- 


58  MONTANA:    AN  HISTORICAL  READER 

way.  The  Assiniboins  were  finally  driven  off,  but 
only  because  the  whites  helped  their  Indian  friends. 

The  chief  traders  in  charge  of  these  forts  were 
sometimes  very  rough  men.  Two  of  the  worst  were 
named  Chardon  and  Harvey,  and  they  were  really 
as  bad  as  Indians. 

One  day  a  war-party  of  Blackfeet  wanted  to  enter 
the  fort  where  Harvey  and  Chardon  were  in  charge. 
They  were  refused.  As  the  angry  Indians  started  off, 
they  killed  a  pig  belonging  to  the  fort.  At  that, 
Harvey,  Chardon,  and  eight  men,  including  a  negro, 
started  off  after  them.  The  warriors  saw  them,  but 
paid  no  attention  to  them,  except  that  one  brave 
turned  and  shot  the  negro. 

As  a  result  of  this,  these  two  "white  Indians" 
planned  to  take  revenge  on  the  Blackfeet;  so  one  day 
when  a  trading  band  of  Blackfeet  came  to  the  fort, 
Chardon  and  Harvey  had  their  plans  well  laid. 

They  loaded  all  the  guns  and  aimed  them  from  the 
loopholes,  and  loaded  the  cannon  with  one  hundred 
and  fifty  bullets,  aiming  it  at  the  big  double  gates 
where  the  Indians  entered.  Then  the  gates  were 


FURS,   FORTS,  AND  FIGHTS  59 

thrown  open.  As  the  Blackfeet  crowded  in  the  guns 
were  fired,  but  the  cannon  was  a  little  slow  so  the 
frightened  Indians  had  a  chance  to  escape  before  it 
went  off.  Three  chiefs  were  killed  and  several  Indians, 
but  it  was  all  so  quickly  done  that  most  of  them  were 
too  frightened  even  to  fight.  They  succeeded  in  sav- 
ing most  of  their  horses  and  many  of  the  furs,  but  they 
hurried  away  from  the  fort  so  rapidly  that  a  great 
deal  was  left  behind. 

All  that  was  bad  enough,  but  the  utterly  horrible 
part  of  it  was  that  Chardon  and  Harvey  scalped  the 
dead  Blackfeet  and  had  a  regular  Indian  scalp-dance. 
And  this  trading  party,  which  had  been  attacked  in 
this  brutal  way,  was  not  at  all  the  war-party  which 
had  killed  the  pig  and  the  negro. 

The  whole  Blackfoot  tribe  "dug  up  the  toma- 
hawk." They  wanted  revenge.  The  fort  was  burned 
down,  the  fur-trade  broken  up,  and  for  ten  long  years 
there  was  nothing  but  war  against  the  whites  in  the 
Blackfoot  country.  The  loss  to  the  fur  company 
through  such  brutality  on  the  part  of  their  agents  was 
very  heavy,  but  the  loss  of  life  among  the  whites  was 


60  MONTANA:    AN  HISTORICAL  READER 

much  more  serious.  Revenge  and  scalps  —  scalps 
.  *and  revenge  —  for  ten  years  that  was  the  one  desire 
of  the  entire  Blackfoot  tribe. 

At  Fort  Union,  where  Kenneth  McKenzie  was 
in  charge,  things  went  much  better.  McKenzie  was 
so  well  known  for  his  ceremonial  manner  that  the 
whites  called  him  "King  of  the  Missouri,"  and  the 
red  men,  "Big  Indian  Me";  but  he  knew  how  to  keep 
the  friendship  of  the  Indians.  His  rivals  in  the  fur- 
trade  could  never  get  the  better  of  him,  either. 

Fort  Union  was  a  very  important  post,  and  the 
Indians  were  accustomed  to  trading  there;  so  another 
fur  company  built  a  fort  near  by  and  tried  to  steal 
their  trade.  One  season  both  forts  were  anxiously 
awaiting  the  Blackfeet  with  their  bundles  of  furs, 
when  scouts  reported  them  as  near  at  hand.  The 
new  fort  watched  hopefully,  when  suddenly  the  gates 
of  Fort  Union  opened  and  out  sallied  a  band  in  full 
costume,  with  drum  and  trumpet  and  fife  —  some- 
thing wonderful  to  the  astonished  Indians.  Behind 
the  band  came  another  group  of  traders,  all  dressed 
in  their  best,  with  gaudy  presents  and  whiskey.  Fort 


FURS,   FORTS,   AND   FIGHTS  61 

Union  won  the  day,  for  the  Indians  would  not  trade 
with  the  new  fort. 

In  some  years  Fort  Union  would  pay  several  times 
as  much  for  furs  as  other  traders,  just  to  secure  the 
skins  for  that  season.  The  next  year  their  rivals 
would  not  appear,  and  they  paid  regular  prices. 

The  fur-trade  wras  for  many  years  very,  very  im- 
portant. Hundreds  of  thousands  of  buffalo  robes, 
beaver  skins,  and  furs  of  all  kinds  were  sent  down  the 
Missouri  River  to  St.  Louis  every  season.  Buffalo 
robes  sold  for  two  to  four  dollars  each,  but  they  would 
be  worth  from  one  hundred  and  fifty  to  two  hundred 
and  fifty  dollars  to-day.  Beaver  skins  were  really 
the  money  of  the  Indian  country.  Everything  was 
priced  as  being  worth  a  certain  number  of  beaver 
skins  instead  of  a  certain  number  of  dollars.  The 
usual  value  of  a  beaver  skin  was  two  dollars. 

Hunting  was  carried  on  so  vigorously  both  by 
Indians  and  wThite  men  that  it  is  estimated  that  they 
sometimes  killed  a  million  buffaloes  in  a  single  year. 
The  herds  began  gradually  to  disappear,  until  to-day 
there  are  very  few  buffaloes  in  the  whole  United 


62  MONTANA:    AN   HISTORICAL  READER 

States.  Nearly  all,  even  of  these,  are  in  Montana,  or 
have  been  taken  from  Montana  herds.  The  only 
place  to-day  where  hunting  could  be  carried  on  as  it 
used  to  be  among  the  buffaloes  would  be  among  the 
vast  caribou  herds  of  Alaska  and  the  Yukon,  but 
neither  the  Government  nor  the  white  settlers  will 
permit  the  caribou  to  be  killed  off  as  the  buffalo  was. 
There  were  no  game  laws  to  protect  the  buffalo  herds. 
With  the  disappearance  of  the  buffaloes  came  the 
end  of  the  fur- trade  and,  of  course,  the  end  of  the 
forts.  Some  were  burned  down  by  the  Indians,  others 
were  pulled  down,  while  still  others,  like  Fort  Benton, 
are  falling  to  pieces  through  decay.  Never  again  will 
there  be  furs  or  forts  among  the  Shining  Mountains. 


CHAPTER   V 

INDIANS  AROUND  THE  WOODPILES 

TF  you  were  a  fur-trader  of  the  early  days  and  wanted 
to  go  to  the  Land  of  the  Shining  Mountains,  would 
you  travel  up  the  Missouri  River  from  St.  Louis  in 
a  boat,  or  would  you  go  across  the  plains  ?  By  either 
route  you  would  have  plenty  of  excitement. 

Suppose  you  were  going  up  the  Missouri  River 
in  a  boat.  What  kind  of  a  boat  would  you  take  ?  If 
it  was  before  the  days  of  "fire-canoes,"  as  the  Indians 
called  the  steamboats,  would  you  travel  in  a  dugout  or 
in  a  bull-boat  ?  Or,  perhaps,  if  you  had  many  others 
travelling  with  you,  you  would  use  a  keelboat,  as  did 
Lewis  and  Clark. 

A  dugout  was  a  canoe  dug  out  of  the  trunk  of  a  tree 
after  the  top  and  bottom  had  been  cut  off  and  the  bark 
peeled  off.  Four  men  working  hard  could  make  a  dug- 
out in  four  days.  When  finished,  the  wood  was  about 
two  inches  thick  on  the  bottom  and  an  inch  thick  on 

the  upper  edge.     Such  a  boat  was  very  light,  yet  would 

63 


64  MONTANA:    AN  HISTORICAL  READER 

hold  three  or  four  men,  and  traders  and  trappers  often 
used  them.  Indians  in  Montana  never  used  birch- 
bark  canoes  as  did  the  Indians  of  the  East. 

A  bull-boat  was  a  skin  boat.  It  was  made  of  the  big, 
thick  hide  of  a  buffalo  bull,  stretched  while  wet  over 
a  frame.  When  the  skin  dried,  the  shrinking  made  it 
fit  the  frame  tightly.  Indians  and  trappers  who  travel- 
led in  these  boats  had  to  camp  every  night.  They 
had  to  pull  the  boat  out  of  the  water,  empty  it,  and 
turn  it  upside  down  to  dry.  This  was  because  the  skin 
stretched  when  wet,  and  during  the  day  nearly  an  inch 
of  water  would  leak  into  the  boat.  Some  of  these 
bull-boats  were  as  round  as  tubs,  and  would  hold  only 
one  person.  Others  were  shaped  more  like  a  canoe, 
and  would  hold  three  or  four. 

Mackinaw  boats  were  fifty  feet  long,  twelve  feet 
wide,  and  four  feet  deep.  They  required  a  crew  of 
twelve  men  upstream,  and  five  men  downstream. 
They  were  used  chiefly  for  shipping  furs. 

Keelboats  were  larger  than  mackinaws.  They  were 
sometimes  sixty  or  seventy  feet  long,  with  cabins  and 
a  sail,  but  with  oars,  too.  The  sail  could  not  often  be 


INDIANS  AROUND   THE  WOODPILES  65 

used  upstream  on  account  of  a  breeze  in  the  wrong 
direction.  If  the  sail  could  not  be  used,  the  boat 
had  to  be  poled,  rowed,  or  cordelled. 

A  "cordelle"  was  a  strong  rope,  a  thousand  feet 
long,  fastened  high  up  on  the  mast  so  it  would  not 
catch  in  the  bushes.  The  crew,  walking  on  shore, 
pulled  the  boat  upstream  by  this  rope.  It  was  weary 
work  and  very,  very  slow.  When  the  banks  were 
steep,  men  at  the  cordelle  had  to  walk  in  shallow  water. 
Sometimes  they  had  to  splash  through  swamps;  and 
once,  as  a  crew  was  crossing  a  quicksand,  a  negro 
boatman  was  caught  in  it,  and  sank  out  of  sight  before 
he  could  be  saved. 

Where  the  river  banks  were  too  steep  to  give  any 
footing  at  all,  the  boat  had  to  be  poled.  Twelve  or 
sixteen  men  put  long  poles,  made  especially  for  the 
purpose,  down  into  the  water,  and  then  by  pushing 
together  with  these  poles  braced  against  the  bottom 
of  the  river,  they  pushed  the  boat  upstream.  This 
was  hard  work  too,  because  they  had  the  swift  current 
of  the  river  against  them.  It  was  so  slow  that  after 
a  long  day's  work,  a  crew  might  still  be  in  sight  of  the 


66  MONTANA:    AN  HISTORICAL  READER 

camping  place  of  the  night  before.  But  the  boatmen 
were  very  jolly,  and  at  night  when  the  boat  was  tied 
up  at  the  bank  or  at  an  island  in  midstream,  they 
built  bonfires,  cooked  their  suppers,  smoked  their 
pipes,  and  sang. 

When  the  fire-canoes  came,  trappers  and  traders 
were  pleased,  because  it  was  so  much  easier  a  way  of 
travelling.  The  Indians  at  first  thought  they  were 
marvellous,  but  afterwards  they  disliked  them  because 
the  steamboats  brought  so  many  whites  into  their 
country. 

Suppose  we  were  to  travel  up  the  Missouri  River 
in  a  fire-canoe,  calling  the  year  about  i860. 

Every  morning,  before  the  boat  starts,  hunters  are 
sent  ashore  to  secure  fresh  meat  for  the  passengers. 
They  travel  on  foot  along  the  bank,  shooting  deer, 
buffaloes,  wild  geese,  or  anything  suitable  for  food, 
while  the  steamer  puffs  slowly  upstream.  The  hunters 
hang  their  meat  supplies  on  the  branch  of  a  tree  where 
it  can  be  seen  from  the  river,  and  when  our  steamer 
comes  along  the  captain  sends  ashore  for  it. 

The  steamboat  goes,  oh,  so  slowly!     The  channel 


A  SIOUX  CHIEF 


INDIANS  AROUND   THE   WOODPILES  67 

is  narrow  and  often  changes,  and  the  pilot  cannot  even 
see  it  because  of  the  muddy  water.  So  the  steamer  has 
to  poke  her  nose  here  and  there  to  find  the  deepest 
water,  frequently,  especially  in  low  water,  getting  stuck 
on  a  sandbar.  Besides,  the  river  is  full  of  "snags," 
or  "sawyers,"  as  the  boatmen  call  them.  Snags  are 
the  big  trees  washed  away  by  floods  and  carried  down- 
stream by  the  swift  current.  The  roots  are  heavier 
and  are  under  water,  but  you  can  see  the  jagged 
branches  with  their  sharp  tips  always  pointing  down- 
stream. They  are  sharp  enough  and  heavy  enough 
to  break  a  hole  in  a  boat.  So  between  the  channel, 
which  is  hard  to  find,  the  sandbars,  and  the  snags, 
the  steamer  is  obliged  to  go  slowly  against  the  rapid 
current. 

When  the  passengers  become  weary  of  the  monotony, 
the  captain  allows  them  to  go  ashore,  on  the  lower  Mis- 
souri, and  walk  across  country,  or  follow  the  stream, 
just  for  exercise.  The  river  winds  and  twists  so  that, 
according  to  LaBarge,  a  passenger  can  walk  a  mile 
and  a  half  and  cut  across  a  little  neck  of  land  while 
the  boat  has  to  travel  thirty  miles  to  reach  that  same 


68  MONTANA:    AN  HISTORICAL  READER 

point.  This  gives  opportunity  for  visiting  the  camps 
of  friendly  Indians;  but  it  is  a  little  dangerous, 
because,  if  passengers  lose  their  way  at  all  and  do  not 
keep  in  sight  of  the  river,  they  cannot  tell  whether  or 
not  the  boat  had  passed  them. 

Buffaloes  become  more  plentiful  farther  up  the 
river,  the  plains  on  either  side  are  brown  with  them, 
and  one  day  wTe  have  to  tie  up  for  several  hours  to  wait 
for  a  large  herd  to  swim  across.  The  river  is  so  full 
of  the  big  animals  that  it  looks  as  if  you  could  cross 
it  just  by  jumping  from  one  brown  hump  to  another. 
One  clumsy  buffalo  swims  so  close  to  the  steamer  that 
he  gets  tangled  up  with  the  wheel  and  kicks  out  several 
of  the  buckets.  The  ship's  carpenter  has  to  replace 
them  before  we  can  go  on. 

The  passengers  tell  a  funny  story  about  the  captain 
of  another  steamer  and  his  buffalo  hunt.  This  other 
captain  had  a  friend  on  board  who  was  very  anxious  to 
shoot  a  buffalo ;  so  one  day  when  several  brown  humps 
were  seen  crossing  the  river  just  ahead  of  their  steam- 
er, the  captain  and  his  friend  jumped  into  a  small 
boat  and  rowed  toward  their  game.  The  captain  shot 


INDIANS  AROUND  THE   WOODPILES  69 

one,  wounding  it,  but  the  current  carried  it  downstream 
so  rapidly  he  was  afraid  he  would  lose  it.  "Lasso  it," 
he  called  to  his  friend.  But  the  friend  was  excited. 
He  lassoed  the  nearest  buffalo,  which  was  a  young, 
strong  animal,  not  wounded  at  all.  Then  away  went 
that  scared  buffalo  across  the  river,  dragging  the  little 
boat  behind  him!  The  boat  zigzagged  so  as  it  rushed 
through  the  water  that  the  captain  did  not  dare  to 
shoot  again  for  fear  of  shooting  his  friend.  When 
the  buffalo  reached  the  shore,  away  he  started  up  the 
bank,  and  on  a  wild  run  across  the  prairies  with  the 
boat  still  at  the  end  of  the  rope.  But  the  front  end 
broke  and  that  ended  the  hunters'  ride.  The  lassoed 
buffalo  still  raced  across  the  prairie  dragging  the  front 
end  of  the  boat  after  him,  while  the  hunters,  feeling 
very  foolish,  waited  for  the  steamer  to  send  out  another 
small  boat  to  them. 

As  our  fire-canoe  reaches  the  upper  river  where  the 
Indians  are  hostile,  no  more  shore  leaves  are  granted. 
There  is  too  much  real  danger  along  this  part  of  the 
river.  Our  steamboat  looks  strangely  out  of  place  in 
this  country.  There  are  no  houses,  no  cities,  no  white 


70  MONTANA:    AN  HISTORICAL  READER 

men  —  just  the  steamboat  puffing  up  the  broad, 
muddy  river.  The  banks  are  lined  with  trees,  but  be- 
yond that  green  fringe  is  a  strange  wild  country,  full 
of  Indians  and  buffaloes.  On  either  side  are  the  plains. 

Now  our  steamer,  like  all  others,  burns  wood.  Wood 
as  fuel  is  not  satisfactory  because  it  takes  up  so  much 
space  and  burns  so  quickly.  At  first,  steamers  stopped 
anywhere  to  cut  wood,  but  later  there  were  regular 
stopping  places  where  there  were  woodpiles.  Men 
who  trapped  wild  animals  in  Winter  chopped  wood  in 
Summer;  and  their  work  was  dangerous  enough  when 
Indians  began  to  haunt  the  banks  of  the  river  in  their 
efforts  to  turn  back  the  steamers. 

One  day  wrhen  our  boat  stops  at  a  woodpile,  some- 
thing happens.  As  the  boat  swings  in  quietly  to  shore 
and  touches,  the  captain  calls  "Woodpile!"  That  is 
the  regular  signal  for  the  crew  to  jump  ashore  and  load 
wood.  They  move  with  quick  jumps  for  they  know 
the  danger.  There  may  be  an  Indian  behind  every 
tree  and  every  bush.  This  day,  just  as  the  crew  are 
well  started  with  the  loading,  Indians  rise  for  a  moment 
out  of  the  wood,  and  bullets  whistle  about  the  crew's 


INDIANS  AROUND   THE   WOODPILES  71 

heads  and  go  spattering  into  the  water.  Part  of  the 
men  on  the  steamer  answer  that  salute  writh  their  guns, 
and  the  captain  starts  toward  the  small  cannon, 
similar  to  those  which  all  steamers  carried.  But  of 

course  not  an  Indian  is  to  be  seen. 

» 

Again  and  again  there  is  a  whistle  of  bullets  from 
the  bushes  and  an  answering  whistle  of  other  bullets 
into  the  bushes.  But  so  far  as  can  be  seen,  no  one  is 
hurt  yet.  But  just  as  the  men  are  carrying  on  the 
last  few  sticks,  a  bullet  strikes  one  of  them.  The 
Indians  cannot  get  the  scalp,  but  neither  can  the  boat- 
men get  at  them  in  their  hiding  places.  Loading  fire- 
wood is  exciting  and  dangerous  work. 

Two  or  three  years  later,  when  all  the  Indians  along 
the  Missouri  were  on  the  warpath  (this  was  after  gold 
was  discovered,  and  too  many  whites  were  coming  into 
the  Shining  Mountains),  the  miners  had  to  organize 
a  troop  and  patrol  the  river  for  miles  so  that  the  boats 
could  come  up.  ,  Indians  shot  the  wood-choppers, 
threw  the  wood  into  the  river,  and  then  when  the  boats 
were  helpless  without  steam,  they  would  attack  them. 

In    spite    of    the    cannon    and    well-armed    crews 


72  MONTANA:    AN  HISTORICAL  READER 

Indians  continued  to  attack  the  big  steamers.  They 
fired  at  a  smokestack  until  they  shot  it  down,  and  then, 
of  course,  it  was  impossible  to  get  up  steam.  They 
shot  at  every  living  thing  they  could  see  on  deck.  One 
steamer  was  so  badly  damaged  by  Indians  that  although 
she  managed  to  get  away  and  float  downstream,  she 
had  to  transfer  her  passengers,  some  of  them  wounded, 
to  another  boat.  Her  smokestack  was  entirely  shot 
away  and  her  decks  riddled  with  bullets. 

The  Indians  also  tried  treachery.  They  pulled 
out  in  canoes  toward  a  steamer,  surrounded  her,  pre- 
tending to  be  very  friendly,  but  the  moment  any  of 
them  got  on  board  they  flooded  the  fires  and  made  the 
whites  prisoners.  One  steamer  was  crowded  with 
these  treacherous  redskins,  who  put  out  the  fires  and 
started  to  make  prisoners  of  the  passengers.  Quick 
as  a  flash  the  captain,  who  was  standing  near  the  can- 
non, started  toward  it  with  his  lighted  cigar.  That 
was  "bad  medicine."  The  redskins  jumped  into  their 
canoes  and  paddled  away. 

The  double  danger  of  a  shallow  river  with  snags  and 
sandbars,  and  Indians  besides,  would  tax  the  courage  of 


INDIANS  AROUND  THE  WOODPILES  73 

any  captain.  One  such  captain  was  trying  to  find  the 
channel  at  a  point  in  the  river  where  it  made  a  sharp 
bend  and  was  full  of  sandbars.  He  got  into  the  wrong 
channel  and  turning  this  bend  found  himself  suddenly 
stuck  on  a  bar  almost  within  jumping  distance  of  six 
hundred  Indians,  naked,  painted  for  war,  with  bows 
and  arrows  and  guns,  on  the  bank. 

The  captain  was  horrorstruck,  but  he  made  friend- 
ly motions,  and  to  his  surprise  the  Indians  did  not  at- 
tack him.  He  learned  afterwards,  though,  that  the 
Indians  had  planned  to  attack  his  fire-canoe  and  take 
the  scalps  of  the  whites,  when  a  more  friendly  band 
joining  them  had  persuaded  them  not  to  do  so. 

Indians  attacked  the  steamers  even  when  going 
downstream,  but  of  course  the  swiftness  of  the  current 
helped  them  to  run  away  more  rapidly.  Yet  the  very 
rapidity  of  the  current  was  sometimes  an  enemy, 
driving  them  on  the  sandbars  with  so  much  force  it 
was  hard  to  get  off  again. 

One  returning  steamer  carried  to  St.  Louis  a  regu- 
lar menagerie  of  wild  animals -- buffaloes,  beavers, 

,  deer,  and  bears.     The   buffaloes    lost   their  "tern- 


74  MONTANA:    AN  HISTORICAL  READER 

pers  now  and  then,  and  the  passengers  on  that  steamer 
are  said  to  have  had  plenty  of  excitement,  even  with- 
out the  Indians. 

The  Missouri  River  was  for  fifty  years  the  great 
highway  to  the  West.  It  was  the  easiest,  quickest,  and 
safest  road  to  the  Land  of  the  Shining  Mountains.  All 
the  forts  of  the  fur  companies  were  either  on  the  Mis- 
souri or  some  of  its  branches,  such  as  the  Yellowstone, 
because  all  furs  went  to  St.  Louis  by  way  of  the  river. 

The  first  steamer  on  the  Missouri  was  called  the 
Yellowstone,  and  her  first  trip  was  considered  remark- 
able, although  she  went  only  to  where  Pierre,  South 
Dakota,  now  stands.  This  was  in  1831.  The  next 
year  the  Yellowstone  went  to  Fort  Union,  at  the 
mouth  of  the  Yellowstone  River.  It  was  not  until  1858 
that  steamers  went  as  far  up  the  river  as  Fort  Benton, 
which  was  the  head  of  navigation. 

After  the  fire-canoes  went  up  and  down  the  river 
regularly,  the  whites  used  dugouts,  bull-boats,  and 
pther  small  boats  only  for  the  smaller  streams  and  for 
emergencies.  By  1866  forty  steamers  in  one  Summer 
unloaded  at  Fort  Benton.  This  was  due  to  the  dis- 


INDIANS  AROUND  THE  WOODPILES  75 

covery  of  gold,  of  course,  because  for  the  fur-trade  only 
one  boat  a  year  had  made  the  trip. 

Now,  if  you  think  that  travelling  by  land  to  the 
Shining  Mountains  was  any  easier  than  coming  up 
the  river,  read  the  next  chapter. 


CHAPTER  VI 

INDIANS   ON   HORSEBACK 

early  settlers  of  New  England  had  to  fight 
with  Indians  who  went  on  foot.  Western  Indians, 
both  on  the  plains  and  in  the  mountains,  rode  horse- 
back, and  this  made  them  more  dangerous. 

Are  you  going  to  travel  to  the  Land  of  the  Shining 
Mountains  on  horseback  with  a  pack-train,  or  are  you 
going  in  a  big  prairie  schooner  with  a  wagon  train? 

At  first,  when  it  was  thought  that  wagons  could  not 
be  taken  into  the  mountains,  all  traders  and  trappers 
went  on  horseback,  carrying  their  baggage  on  pack- 
horses  or  mules.  These  men  had  to  do  all  their  own 
cooking,  of  course,  and  depended  largely. on  hunting 
for  their  food.  They  could  carry  only  a  certain 
amount  of  flour,  salt,  coffee,  and  a  few  other  light  food 
supplies  with  them.  Beyond  the  Missouri  River  there 
was  no  way  of  renewing  their  supplies,  so  if  a  frisky 
mule  kicked  off  his  pack  and  lost  the  bread-pan  or  the 

coffee-pot,  it  was  a  serious  matter. 

76 


INDIANS  ON  HORSEBACK  77 

At  sunrise  every  morning,  the  leader  of  the  pack- 
train  aroused  the  men,  who  ate  their  breakfast,  fed 
and  watered  the  horses,  and  fastened  the  loads  on  the 
pack-animals.  Sometimes  the  howling  of  wolves 
during  the  night  so  frightened  the  horses  that  even 
though  hobbled  by  having  the  front  feet  tied  together, 
they  would  break  loose  and  run  away.  Perhaps  the 
train  would  lose  a  whole  day  trying  to  find  these 
strayed  horses,  and  often  they  could  find  only  a  few 
of  them. 

Out  on  the  plains,  Indians  could  see  travellers  from 
a  great  distance.  Even  though  not  hostile,  they 
always  tried  to  steal  horses.  Whooping  and  yelling, 
a  long  line  of  Indians  on  flying  ponies  would  sweep 
down  upon  the  pack-train.  The  war-whoop  always 
frightened  horses,  and  thus  the  Indians  could  easily 
stampede  and  drive  them  off. 

Hostile  Indians  were  far  more  terrible.  Racing 
ponies,  sweeping  dpwn  like  the  wind,  painted  savages 
whooping  and  yelling,  horses  stampeding,  bullets  and 
arrows  pouring  like  rain  among  the  trappers  —  that  was 
the  Indian  way  of  fighting.  Around  and  around  the 


78  MONTANA:    AN   HISTORICAL   READER 

whites  the  Indians  circled  on  their  ponies,  lying  almost 
*flat  and  shooting  from  underneath  the  ponies'  necks, 
moving  so  rapidly  it  was  hard  to  hit  even  the  pony  and 
still  harder  to  shoot  the  Indian,  who  seemed  to  be  only 
a  little  part  of  his  horse. 

If  there  were  more  Indians  than  whites,  the  whole 
party  might  be  taken  prisoners.  The  dead  and 
wroimded  would  be  scalped,  while  the  others  would  be 
tied  on  ponies  and  taken  to  the  Indian  village.  After 
a  few  days  they  would  be  tortured  to  death,  while  the 
«howling  savages  held  a  scalp-dance  around  a  bonfire, 
dangling  at  the  end  of  their  coup-sticks  the  scalps  of 
the  white  men  they  had  killed. 

Even  if  the  pack-train  was  strong  enough  to  drive 
off  the  Indians,  they  always  lost  many  of  their  horses 
and  supplies.  If  the  Indians  were  defeated,  away 
they  would  race  on  their  fleet  ponies.  The  whites 
would  stop  for  a  few  hours  to  bury  the  dead,  although 
they  knew  that  in  a  few  days  the  wolves  would  dig  up 
the  bodies,  or  the  Indians  would  come  back  and  dig 
them  up  to  get  the  scalps. 

After  the  trappers  reached  the  Shining  Mountains, 


INDIANS  ON  HORSEBACK  79 

there  was  just  as  much  danger,  and  perhaps  more. 
In  the  fresh  mountain  air  and  clear  sunlight,  Indians 
could  watch  travellers  from  the  hilltops  or  from 
behind  a  convenient  tree  or  stump.  The  trappers 
could  not  cover  up  their  trail  as  the  Indians  did. 

A  good  guide  had  to  know  all  the  Indian  signs. 
If  the  body  of  a  buffalo  was  found  near  the  trail,  or  the 
print  of  a  moccasin  in  the  dust,  the  trapper  knew 
that  Indians  had  passed  that  way,  and  often  what 
tribe.  As  he  passed  the  ashes  of  a  camp-fire,  he 
could  tell  how  many  days  before  the  Indians  had  left 
it.  If  he  saw  a  chief's  coat  of  scarlet  cloth  (bought 
from  a  trader)  hanging  on  the  branch  of  a  tree,  he  knew 
there  was  danger.  That  meant  the  Indians  were  on 
the  warpath,  and  that  this  coat  was  the  chief's  bribe 
to  the  sun  or  moon  that  he  might  steal  many  horses 
and  take  many  scalps.  Even  a  little  broken  twig  on  a 
tree  along  the  trail  was  a  sign  the  trapper  could  read, 
and  a  light  column  of  smoke  on  a  hilltop,  answered 
by  other  columns  of  smoke  from  other  hilltops,  was  an 
Indian  signal.  A  black  cloud  of  smoke  hanging  like 
an  open  umbrella  meant  that  the  Indians  had  set  fire 


80  MONTANA:    AN   HISTORICAL  READER 

to  a  "punk  tree"  as  a  signal  to  their  friends.  It  meant, 
too,  that  they  were  on  the  warpath. 

No  matter  how  careful  the  guides  or  trappers  were, 
however,  they  sometimes  thought  the  Indians  were 
far  away  when  they  were  close  at  hand,  stealing  silently 
along  the  trail  of  the  wrhite  man.  Trappers  paid  with 
their  lives  for  such  mistakes. 

But  only  men  and  boys  could  go  to  the  Shining 
Mountains  in  a  pack-train.  No  women  or  girls  under- 
took that  journey  until  it  was  found  that  wagons  could 
be  used,  and  then  they  followed  the  Oregon  Trail  as 
far  as  the  Wind  River  Mountains  of  Wyoming.  The 
only  exception  to  this  was  the  trip  made  by  the  young 
wives  of  H.  H.  Spalding  and  Marcus  Whitman,  in 
1836,  when  they  crossed  the  Oregon  Trail  into 
eastern  Washington. 

After  Oregon  was  discovered  to  be  a  beautiful, 
fertile  country,  many  people  went  there  by  boat  by 
way  of  Cape  Horn,  and  others  went  directly  across 
the  plains  and  mountains,  following  the  Platte  River, 
then  over  the  Rocky  Mountains  to  the  coast.  Grad- 
ually these  emigrants  made  a  trail  across  the  country, 


INDIANS  ON  HORSEBACK  81 

which  was  called  the  Oregon  Trail,  but  the  Indians 
called  it  the  "  Great  Medicine  Road  of  the  Whites." 
The  first  party  that  contained  any  women  crossed  in 
1838,  but  in  1843  a  large  party  of  a  thousand  persons, 
with  a  great  many  women  and  children,  followed  the 
trail  to  Oregon.  They  had  one  hundred  and  twenty 
wagons,  '  and  five  thousand  animals  of  all  kinds, 
including  horses,  mules,  and  cows.  After  gold  was 
found  in  California,  in  1849,  thousands  of  miners 
crossed  the  trail,  which  followed  the  Platte  River  but 
did  not  enter  Montana. 

Suppose  you  are  travelling  in  one  of  the  big  white- 
covered  prairie  schooners,  drawn  by  slow-moving 
oxen.  The  wagons  are  heavily  packed  with  bedding, 
furniture,  clothing,  guns,  dishes,  food,  and  perhaps  a 
stove.  Everything  you  will  need  in  this  long  journey  j 
must  be  remembered.  You  cannot  buy  anything 
after  you  are  once  started. 

Creak,  creak,  creak!  The  slow-moving  oxen  pull 
the  big,  heavy,  squeaking  wagons  across  the  sunny 
prairies.  Men  with  big  black  whips  walk  beside  the 
oxen.  Women  in  the  loaded  wagons  take  care  of  the 


82  MONTANA:    AN  HISTORICAL  READER 

little  children,  while  the  larger  ones  jump  in  and  out 
of  the  white-topped  schooners,  pick  the  beautiful  wild 
flowers,  play  with  the  dogs,  and  run  races  with  each 
other. 

Once  the  trail  was  well  established,  there  was  no 
danger  of  losing  the  road.  It  was  white  because  the 
grass  was  worn  off,  and  sometimes  it  was  more  than 
a  hundred  feet  wide.  Indians  had  never  seen  any 
roads  except  their  own  narrow  trails,  wide  enough 
only  for  them  to  walk  "Indian  file,"  and  they  thought 
it  a  wonderful  trail.  They  thought,  too,  that  the  land 
toward  the  rising  sun  must  be  almost  empty  of  white 
people,  because  so  many  had  gone  over  the  "Great 
Medicine  Road"  toward  the  setting  sun. 

Every  mile  of  that  long  road  has  seen  Indian  fight- 
ing, and  you  could  follow  it  just  by  the  line  of  bones 
beside  it  --bones  of  animals  which  had  died  of  thirst 
or  starvation  or  cold  or  disease,  or  had  been  killed  by 
the  Indians.  There  are  graves  all  along  the  trails, 
too,  of  people  who  died  or  were  killed  by  Indians. 

At  noon  the  wagons  stop,  draw  up  in  four  columns, 
and  the  oxen  are  unloosed  but  not  unyoked.  There 


INDIANS  ON  HORSEBACK 

are  five  or  six  of  these  great  clumsy  beasts  to  every 
wagon.  Mothers  cook  the  dinner  at  little  camp-fires 
built  along  the  ground,  and  nearly  always  there  is 
fresh  buffalo  meat  or  deer  meat  which  the  hunters 
killed  in  the  morning.  Soon  the  meal  is  over,  the 
oxen  are  pulling  the  wagons  again,  and  you  can  hear 
the  slow  creak  as  the  wagon  train  moves  on. 

Emigrants  forgot  many  little  things  and  left  them 
at  their  camp-fires,  especially  as  the  mountains  were 
reached  and  they  were  anxious  to  hurry  forward.  In- 
dians often  brought  to  Father  De  Smet,  one  of  the 
early  missionaries  in  Montana,  forks,  spoons,  coffee- 
pots, hammers,  axes,  and  dishes  which  they  had  found 
at  forsaken  camp-fires.  They  wanted  to  know  for 
what  these  things  were  used.  One  Indian  filed  a  hole 
through  a  broken  teacup  and  put  it  on  a  necklace. 
Anything  which  the  whites  used  was  "big  medicine" 
to  an  Indian. 

At  night  the  wagon  train  is  arranged  to  form  a 
kind  of  fort.  Each  wagon  is  so  close  to  the  one  before 
it,  as  they  stand  in  a  great  circle,  that  the  tongue  of 
the  second  wagon  touches  the  back  of  the  first  one. 


84  MONTANA:    AN  HISTORICAL  READER 

Strong  chains  are  used  to  fasten  the  tongues  to  the 
wagons  in  front.  All  the  horses  and  cattle  and  mules 
are  safe  inside  the  circle.  Little  fires  are  lighted, 
supper  is  cooked,  and  then  every  one  goes  to  sleep 
very  quickly  because  all  must  be  up  at  four  o'clock 
next  morning. 

At  night,  if  you  are  awake,  you  can  hear  the  howl- 
ing of  wolves  on  the  prairies  and  look  out  of  the  end 
of  the  wagon  over  the  great  silent  stretch  of  country, 
with  the  silent  stars  above.  You  know  that  guards 
are  watching  all  around  the  camp  to  protect  it  from 
Indians.  Then  you  go  to  sleep,  and  the  next  thing 
you  hear  is  the  firing  of  guns  by  the  sentinels.  That 
is  the  rising  bell. 

One  morning  you  are  awakened  in  this  way,  and 
when  you  get  out  of  your  wagon  for  breakfast,  others 
are  speaking  of  the  beautiful  sunrise.  The  sky  is 
glorious,  but  so  very  red  that  weather  prophets  are 
predicting  rain.  You  w^ish  it  wrould  rain.  The  grass 
is  dry,  and  sometimes  there  is  very  little  water  to 
drink.  The  sun  rises  slowly,  like  a  great  ball  of  fire, 
right  out  of  the  grass.  Still  the  red  sunrise  does  not 


INDIANS  ON  HORSEBACK  85 

seem  to  disappear,  and  a  few  wonder  why.  Then  sud- 
denly in  one  dreadful  moment  every  one  understands. 
The  prairies  are  on  fire !  And  the  fire  is  sweeping 
directly  toward  your  wagon  train. 

The  nearest  water  is  the  tiny  little  creek  you  crossed 
yesterday,  and  that  was  almost  dry.  There  is  no- 
where to  go.  The  prairies,  covered  with  dry  grass, 
are  all  around  you.  But  something  must  be  done. 
The  men  start  a  back-fire  --that  is,  a  fire  which  will 
burn  from  your  wagon  train  back  toward  the  big  fire 
in  the  east.  This  is  done  very  carefully.  They  set 
the  grass  afire  and  with  blankets  they  fan  the  flames 
so  that  they  burn  away  from  the  camp.  If  a  breeze 
blows  the  flames  toward  the  wagon  train,  the  men 
quickly  stamp  it  out.  So  the  back-fire  burns  grad- 
ually until  it  leaves  a  broad  black  strip  between  you 
and  the  oncoming  flames.  The  ground  is  hot  and 
smoking,  but  the  men  drive  the  teams  onto  this  black- 
ened stretch  whe're  the  flames  cannot  reach  you. 

Now  you  can  easily  see  it  is  a  prairie  fire  and  not 
a  sunrise,  for  the  flames  have  swept  across  the  country 
so  rapidly  they  have  almost  reached  you.  Animals 


86  MONTANA:    AN  HISTORICAL  READER 

of  all  sorts — deer,  coyotes,  wolves,  buffaloes — all 
are  running  past  you  and  running  for  their  lives,  try- 
ing to  escape  from  that  solid  wall  of  flame  which  is 
roaring,  roaring  behind  them.  At  last  that  wall  of 
fire  sweeps  up  to  the  edge  of  the  burned  stretch  on 
which  you  stand.  The  fire  in  front  dies  out  for  lack 
of  fuel,  but  on  each  side  the  flames  sweep  by  with 
that  terrible  roar.  All  around  you  now  is  the  black, 
burned  prairie,  still  smoking.  This  morning  it  was 
a  broad  sweep  of  high,  waving  grass.  The  lack  of 
grass  may  starve  the  cattle  before  you  get  beyond  the 
range  of  the  fire,  and  the  lack  of  game  may  be  very 
serious  for  you;  but  there  are  other  dangers,  too. 

Emigrants  would  always  have  been  safer  if  they 
had  kept  together,  but  when  for  several  days  no  In- 
dians had  been  seen,  drivers  became  careless.  Per- 
haps the  tongue  of  the  wagon  would  break,  or  the  axle, 
or  perhaps  a  wheel  would  come  off,  and  one  wagon 
would  get  far  behind  the  others.  Then,  quick  as  a 
flash,  almost  as  if  they  rose  by  magic  out  of  the  prairies, 
would  come  that  long  line  of  flying,  yelling,  painted 
savages  on  their  swift  little  ponies,  attack  the  crippled 


INDIANS  ON  HORSEBACK  87 

wagon,  kill  and  scalp  the  driver  and  any  others  in  the 
wagon,  run  off  the  horses,  steal  everything  they  could, 
and  go  racing  away  across  the  prairies  before  the 
train  ahead  realized  what  was  the  trouble. 

After  a  train  reached  the  mountains,  it  was  even 
harder  to  travel  than  on  the  tiresome  level  of  the  plains. 
A  steep  hill  would  make  it  necessary  to  use  twenty 
oxen  to  pull  a  single  wagon  to  the  top.  Imagine  how 
long  it  would  take  to  pull  up  twenty  or  thirty,  and 
then  get  them  down  on  the  other  side.  Brakes  could 
not  hold  on  such  hills,  so  a  rope  had  to  be  fastened 
to  the  hind  wheel  and  twisted  around  a  tree,  to 
prevent  the  wagons  from  crashing  down  hill.  The 
pulling  on  the  rope,  as  it  was  gradually  paid  out, 
caused  a  friction  wrhich  would  cut  screw-like  curves 
into  the  trees.  Such  trees  are  still  standing  in  Mon- 
tana, and  the  groove  cut  in  is  sometimes  an  inch  or 
more  deep. 

Sometimes,  in  crossing  a  river,  a  wagon  would  be- 
come stuck  when  only  half  the  train  was  across.  Then 
if  attacked  by  Indians,  it  was  hard  to  defend  the  train. 
When  the  rivers  were  high  and  a  ford  could  not  be 


88  MONTANA:    AN   HISTORICAL   READER 

found,  emigrants  had  to  unload  every  one  of  these 
big,  clumsy  wagons,  swim  them  over  behind  the  horses, 
and  carry  the  goods  over  on  rafts.  If  the  raft  sank, 
everything  was  lost.  It  often  took  an  entire  day  to 
cross  a  swift  stream,  even  if  it  was  narrow,  and  if  a 
wagon  was  overturned  in  the  stream,  of  course  every- 
thing was  soaked. 

Bump!  bump!  bump!  up  the  mountains  and 
down  them,  over  the  bridgeless  streams!  The  wagons 
jolted  so  over  the  rocky  roads  that  little  children  fell 
out  arid  sometimes  sprained  an  ankle  or  broke  an  arm. 
They  could  no  longer  play  outside,  for  there  was  too 
much  danger  of  Indians. 

As  they  climbed  higher  in  the  mountains,  the 
nights  were  cold,  and  even  in  August  there  was  snow 
on  the  higher  foothills.  And  the  nights  were  so  full 
of  strange  noises!  If  you  were  too  chilly  to  sleep, 
you  could  hear  the  howling  of  the  wolves,  and  you  ex- 
pected at  any  minute  to  hear  an  Indian  war-whoop. 
Every  man  in  the  train  was  required  to  keep  his 
revolver  with  him  all  the  time,  and  at  night  to  keep 
his  gun  where  he  could  reach  it  in  an  instant.  And 


INDIANS  ON  HORSEBACK  89 

no  man  knew,  as  he  sat  in  the  light  of  the  camp-fire 
while  his  wife  cooked  supper,  but  that  an  Indian  arrow, 
or  an  Indian  bullet  might  the  next  second  kill  both  of 
them.  Indians  could  glide  softly  through  the  moun- 
tains, over  the  trails,  and  hide  behind  any  tree  or 
stump,  while  the  noisy  wagon  bumped,  and  creaked, 
and  crashed  over  the  rocky  road  in  such  fashion 
that  the  Indians  near-by  could  not  help  hearing  it. 

Just  look  at  the  map  and  follow  the  long  road  from 
St.  Louis  or  from  Westport,  Missouri  (now  Kansas 
City),  along  the  Platte  River,  into  what  is  now  Wy- 
oming, and  then  beyond.  Pioneers  who  came  to  the 
Shining  Mountains  turned  off  the  trail  in  Wyoming 
and  came  into  the  gold  fields  through  the  Bozeman 
Pass. 

The  long  road  was  marked,  not  only  to  Montana, 
but  away  on  to  the  Pacific  coast  by  the  graves  of  men, 
women,  and  little  children  who  died  of  the  hardships 
of  the  way.  Perhaps  the  father's  grave  was  out  on 
the  plains,  while  the  mother  and  little  children  trav- 
elled on,  so  far  from  the  home  they  had  left  and  so 
far  from  the  home  they  were  trying  to  reach. 


90  MONTANA:    AN  HISTORICAL  READER 

This  was  the  overland  trail  to  the  Land  of  the  Shin- 
ing Mountains.  Now  do  you  think,  if  you  were 
making  the  journey,  that  you  would  come  by  fire- 
canoe  up  the  Missouri  River  to  Fort  Benton,  and 
then  go  by  land  to  Alder  Gulch  or  Last  Chance,  or 
do  you  think  you  would  come  across  the  plains  by 
wagon  train?  Soldiers  often  accompanied  the  wagon 
trains,  but  Indians  attacked  them  just  the  same. 

Do  you  think  you  would  rather  stand  the  attacks 
of  Indians  around  the  woodpiles  and  along  the  river 
banks,  or  the  mounted  Indians  on  the  plains  ?  Which 
was  the  safer  way? 

There  was  another  class  of  travellers  —  a  very 
special  class  -  -  that  had  to  face  the  danger  of  Indians 
on  the  plains  and  in  the  mountains.  This  consisted 
of  eighty  daring  men,  some  of  whom  were  always 
riding  across  the  plains  or  the  mountains  at  top  speed, 
but  no  two  of  them  ever  rode  together.  Each  man 
rode  entirely  alone,  armed  only  with  a  knife  and  a 
revolver.  He  never  stopped  to  hunt  or  shoot.  He 
had  a  certain  distance  to  ride  each  day:  some  had 


INDIANS  ON  HORSEBACK  91 

forty-five,  and 'some  seventy-five  miles;  and  each  man 
rode  his  swift  little  pony  just  as  rapidly  as  he  could  go. 
The  men  were  picked  men  who  feared  nothing. 
Buffalo  Bill  was  one  of  them.  And  the  ponies  were 
picked  —  the  swiftest,  strongest,  sturdiest  ponies  which 
could  be  found.  Now  see  if  you  can  guess  who  these 
men  were. 

Each  day  one  man  would  leave  Sacramento, 
California,  at  a  certain  hour,  and  at  the  same  hour 
another  man  would  leave  St.  Joseph,  Missouri.  They 
rode  toward  each  other,  and  each  man  had  fastened 
on  his  saddle  a  very  valuable  package.  It  was  to 
deliver  that  package  that  these  men  rode  so  furiously 
and  so  daringly  that  even  the  Indians  looked  at  them 
in  amazement,  thought  them  "big  medicine,"  and 
for  a  long  time  made  no  effort  to  attack  them.  Later 
when  the  Indians  were  hostile,  not  one  of  these  men 
stopped  to  fight.  They  only  rode  the  faster. 

Every  fifteen  or  twenty-five  miles  in  this  long 
stretch  of  two  thousand  miles  between  St.  Joseph  and 
Sacramento  was  a  log  cabin  station,  where  lived 
herders  who  had  fresh  ponies  for  these  riders.  As  a 


92  MONTANA:    AN  HISTORICAL  READER 

horseman  came  dashing  in,  he  found  a  pony  all  sad- 
dled and  bridled,  waiting  for  him.  He  was  allowed 
two  minutes'  time  to  change  horses,  but  he  took  hardly 
more  than  two  seconds.  He  jumped  off  the  tired 
horse,  lifted  this  precious  package  from  one  saddle- 
horn  to  the  other,  jumped  on  the  fresh  pony,  and 
dashed  away  again.  If  it  was  on  level  ground  he  rode 
almost  half  a  mile  a  minute.  On  one  occasion  the 
distance  between  these  two  cities  was  made  in  seven 
days  and  seventeen  hours,  which  was  really  wonderful. 

At  the  end  of  his  route,  the  rider  turned  over  his 
package  to  another  horseman  who  was  waiting  for 
him  with  another  fresh  pony,  rested  that  night,  and 
next  morning  started  back  over  his  trail  of  the  day 
before,  riding  just  as  rapidly  as  ever.  Meantime, 
the  new  man  had  started  forward  on  his  route,  chang- 
ing horses  every  fifteen  or  twenty  miles,  until  he 
reached  the  end  of  his  run  and  found  a  third  man 
ready  to  take  the  package  and  race  on  still  farther 
with  it. 

Sometimes  when  a  rider  came  to  a  station  where 
he  should  have  had  a  fresh  pony,  he  found  only  a 


INDIANS  ON  HORSEBACK  93 

burned  log  cabin  and  the  dead  and  scalped  bodies 
of  the  whites.  The  station  had  been  attacked  by 
Indians,  and  he  knew  that  they  might  even  then  be 
waiting  for  him  a  few  miles  farther  down  the  trail. 
Without  food  or  water,  and  in  great  danger,  on  he 
started  again  on  his  weary  pony. 

Only  once,  it  is  said,  was  that  package  lost.  The 
Indians  had  captured  the  rider.  Another  time  it  was 
almost  lost,  for  the  Indians  killed  the  horseman,  but 
the  brave  little  pony,  though  severely  wounded,  broke 
away  from  the  Indians  and  leaving  his  master  dead 
on  the  plains,  came  clattering  into  the  next  station 
with  the  package  safe.  It  was  taken  off,  given  to  a 
horseman  waiting  with  a  fresh  pony,  and  out  over  the 
plains  sped  man  and  horse  again. 

One  man's  route  might  lie  across  the  plains,  where 
there  was  no  shelter  from  the  Indians,  who  could  see 
him  at  a  great  distance.  Another's  might  lie  through 
the  mountains,  in  the  dark  forests,  along  the  edge  of 
a  precipice,  or  through  steep  canyons,  with  Indians 
any \vhere  and  everywhere.  Any  rock  or  tree  might 
shelter  one.  At  any  moment  the  rider  might  run 


94  MONTANA:    AN  HISTORICAL  READER 

into  an  ambush  and  be  captured  and  tortured  to 
death.  But  these  men  feared  nothing.  They  spent 
years  racing  back  and  forth  across  the  plains,  with 
those  packages  strapped  to  their  ponies. 

Do  you  know  who  these  men  were?  They  were 
called  the  "Pony  Express."  Do  you  know  what  the 
package  was  ?  It  was  the  United  States  mail. 

From  1861  to  1864,  the  United  States  Government 
had  to  send  the  California  mail  either  by  a  long  sea 
voyage  or  by  this  pony  express;  and  so  for  nearly 
three  years  those  brave  little  ponies  and  those  daring 
men  raced  back  and  forth  across  the  plains  and  the 
mountains,  in  danger  of  Indians  and  accidents  and 
death,  just  to  carry  the  United  States  mail. 


CHAPTER  VII 

GOLD! 

A   BAND  of  thieving  Indians,  six  ragged,  tired  miners 

lost  in  the  mountains,  one  of  them  trying  to  cook 

dinner  over  a  camp-fire  while  another  staked  out  the 

wretched    ponies  -  -  that  is  how    the    wonderful    gold 

discovery  was  made  at  Alder  Gulch. 

There  were  so  few  white  people  in  the  Shining 
Mountains  — just  a  few  traders,  trappers,  and  priests,— 
that  only  one  or  two  knew  of  it  when,  in  1852,  a  half- 
breed  Indian  found  a  little  gold  at  Hell  Gate.  Then, 
in  1857,  a  trapper  appeared  at  Fort  Benton  and  offered 
gold  dust  for  supplies.  He  said  he  had  mined  it  in 
the  mountains.  The  fort  trader  refused  to  accept 
it  for  a  while  because  no  gold  had  been  found  in 
these  mountains,  and  he  did  not  believe  the  dust 
was  genuine.  At  last  he  accepted  it,  and  the  trapper, 
with  his  newly  bought  powder,  bullets,  and  tobacco, 
vanished  again  into  the  mountains.  The  gold  dust 

was  genuine  and  the  news  spread  among  other  traders 

95 


96  MONTANA:    AN   HISTORICAL   READER 

visiting  the  post,  but  did  not  create  any  special 
interest. 

The  next  year,  James  and  Granville  Stuart,  two 
brothers  famous  in  Montana  history,  found  a  little 
gold.  They  became  sure  there  must  be  a  good  deal 
of  gold  in  the  mountains,  although  they  did  not  know 
where  it  was.  But  they  wrote  to  friends  in  Colorado 
and  in  what  is  now  Idaho,  entrusting  their  letters  to 
any  traveller  going  in  the  right  direction;  so  when  a 
rich  "strike"  was  made  on  Grasshopper  Creek  in  1862, 
it  did  not  take  long  for  the  news  to  spread.  Miners 
rushed  to  the  creek,  built  tents,  shacks,  and  log  cabins 
of  every  description.  They  called  this  new  little  mining 
town  Bannack.  It  was  the  first  town  in  the  Shining 
Mountains;  and  two  years  later,  when  Montana  got 
a  name,  Bannack.  was  the  first  capital  of  the  Territory. 

Soon  Grasshopper  Creek  had  more  miners  than 
paying  claims,  so  prospectors  scattered  through  the 
mountains  looking  for  gold. 

Now  just  at  this  time,  during  the  Civil  War,  the 
Indians  had  become  angry  because  so  many  whites 
were  coming  into  their  country.  Thousands  and  thou- 


GOLD !  97 

sands  of  pale-faces  had  gone  to  Oregon,  some  over  the 
famous  trail  and  some  by  the  Missouri  River,  through 
Fort  Benton.  Others  were  digging  for  gold,  and  the 
redskins  knew  that  if  gold  were  found,  thousands 
more  of  the  whites  would  come  into  the  mountains. 
The  plains  Indians  along  the  river  were  on  the  war- 
path, and  the  mountain  Indians  determined  to  drive 
the  whites  out  of  their  country. 

Because  prospecting  was  dangerous,  one  party  of 
seven  men,  led  by  Henry  Edgar  and  Bill  Fairweather, 
who  wanted  to  visit  the  Yellowstone  River  for  gold, 
planned  to  join  another  party  led  by  James  Stuart. 
But  Edgar's  party  misunderstood  the  meeting-place, 
and  after  waiting  for  a  while  at  the  wrong  creek,  they 
decided  to  go  on  alone. 

Crow  Indians  were  soon  on  their  trail.  While 
camping  one  night,  the  miners  heard  a  slight  sound, 
then  —  bang!  bang!  The  Crows  quickly  captured  the 
horses,  and  the  white  men  found  themselves  prisoners. 
The  Indians  took  their  blankets,  their  provisions,  even 
their  clothes, -- took  everything  except  their  guns. 
One  man  who  could  talk  the  sign  language  told  the 


98  MONTANA:    AN  HISTORICAL  READER 

Crows  that  the  miners  would  never  give  up  their  guns 
while  they  were  alive. 

But  after  having  captured  the  white  men,  the  Crows 
did  not  know  what  to  do  with  them.  They  wanted  to 
kill  them,  but  they  did  not  want  a  big  war.  They 
wanted  to  scare  the  miners  out  of  the  country. 

After  two  or  three  days,  they  set  up  a  big  council 
tent  and  held  a  pow-wow.  After  talking  a  while,  and 
smoking  a  while,  they  sent  for  the  miners.  When  the 
whites  came  in,  they  found  a  circle  of  head  chiefs 
sitting  around  the  sloping  walls  of  the  tepee,  with  the 
medicine  man  opposite  the  opening,  and  the  medicine 
bush  in  the  centre.  The  prisoners,  led  by  an  old  brave, 
were  paraded  around  and  around  the  medicine  bush 
and  then  out  into  the  open  air  again.  The  miners  were 
rather  puzzled  by  this,  but  they  joked  over  their  "cake 
wralk"  as  they  called  it,  and  Fairw^eather  said  if  they 
had  to  parade  again,  he  would  pull  up  that  medicine 
bush  "and  whack  the  medicine  man  with  it."  Soon 
the  Crows  sent  for  the  prisoners  again  and  there  was 
another  "cake  walk."  The  miners  paraded  around 
and  around  and  around  that  medicine  bush  until 


GOLD  !  99 

Fairweather  did  pull  it  up  and  hit  the  medicine  man  over 
the  head  with  it.  Then  out  they  ran,  with  the  Indians 
after  them. 

The  white  men  formed  a  hollow  square  so  that  they 
could  defend  themselves  if  attacked.  All  around  stood 
the  angry  Indians  with  tomahawks  and  guns,  more 
than  ready  to  fight.  But  two  chiefs,  Red  Bear  and 
Little  Crow,  drove  the  crowd  of  Indians  back  with 
whips,  and  then  Red  Bear  jumped  upon  his  horse  and 
started  to  talk.  It  was  the  longest  talk  the  miners  ever 
heard.  He  started  to  talk  at  noon  and  he  was  still 
talking  at  midnight.  They  could  not  understand  what 
he  said,  but  he  was  evidently  trying  to  save  their  lives. 
The  next  day,  after  another  long  council  in  the  medicine 
tepee,  the  Crows  let  the  miners  go.  One  miner,  how- 
ever, preferred  to  stay  with  the  Crows.  The  Indians 
gave  them  miserable,  sore-backed  ponies  instead  of 
their  owrn  good  horses;  gave  them  buffalo  robes  in- 
stead of  their  own  clothes  and  blankets,  and  just 
enough  food  to  keep  them  from  starving  for  a  few 
days. 

But  the  Crows  told  the  whites  that  if  they  went  on 


100  MONTANA:    AN  HISTORICAL  READER 

looking  for  gold  they  would  be  killed.  They  ordered 
them  out  of  the  Crow  country.  The  six  miners  could  not 
help  themselves,  so  they  started  back  toward  Bannack. 
When  they  came  to  a  river  near-by  they  had  almost 
decided  to  risk  going  where  they  pleased,  and  trust 
to  luck  to  escape  the  Indians.  But  an  old  squaw 
digging  roots  told  them  that  young  braves  had  gone 
into  the  woods  to  waylay  them,  and  they  would  surely 
be  killed  if  they  did  not  go  straight  back  to  Bannack. 
She  told  them  to  hurry,  too. 

Evidently  several  of  the  younger  braves  were  sorry 
they  had  lost  those  six  scalps,  for  they  followed  the 
miners  until  the  whites  caught  sight  of  them.  Then 
the  Crows  pretended  to  be  friendly  and  tried  to  get 
near  the  brush  where  the  miners  had  taken  refuge. 
But  wrhen  their  friendship  was  distrusted,  they  showed 
their  true  colors.  Bang!  wrent  one  Crow  gun.  Bang! 
went  another.  Then  the  miners  used  their  guns  until 
the  Indians  disappeared. 

One  day  at  noon,  as  they  hurried  on,  they  camped 
on  a  little  creek  which  was  fringed  with  alder  bushes. 
They  were  still  nearly  eighty  miles  from  Bannack, 


GOLD  !  101 

though  they  were  so  lost  that  they  were  not  very  certain 
where  the  little  town  was.  They  were  tired  and  dis- 
couraged. The  ground  was  rough,  the  horses  were 
lame,  and  they  had  nothing  to  eat  except  the  game 
they  might  kill.  Four  of  the  men  wandered  off  to 
look  for  gold.  Henry  Edgar  was  cooking  over  the 
camp-fire,  and  Bill  Fairweather  went  across  the  creek 
to  tether  the  miserable  Indian  ponies. 

Suddenly,  as  he  fastened  the  horses,  a  piece  of  rock 
caught  his  attention.  He  picked  it  up  and  called  to 
Henry  Edgar.  It  was  a  piece  of  "rim rock."  That 
meant  it  was  a  good  place  to  prospect.  The  two  men 
got  a  pick  and  a  pan,  dug  in  the  grass  near  where  they 
had  found  the  rim  rock,  and  washed  the  panful  of  dirt. 
There  was  two  dollars  and  forty  cents  worth  of  gold- 
dust  in  that  one  pan.  By  evening  they  had  panned 
out  twelve  dollars  and  thirty  cents  worth. 

The  next  day,  all  six  men  working  together  pan- 
ned out  one  hundred  and  fifty  dollars.  But  they  had 
become  so  excited  that  they  had  forgotten  to  eat,  and 
were  almost  starved.  By  good  luck  they  killed  a 
deer,  had  a  big  venison  dinner  over  the  camp-fire,  and 


102  MONTANA:    AN  HISTORICAL  READER 

went  to  sleep  out  in  the  brush,  still  in  danger  of 
Indians  but  very  happy. 

They  started  again  for  Bannack,  but  this  time  for 
food,  clothes,  and  tools  so  they  could  work  their  claim. 
Before  they  started  they  agreed  to  say  nothing  of  their 
discovery.  They  looked  so  happy,  however,  that  other 
miners  quickly  guessed  the  truth,  and  when  they  re- 
turned to  Alder  Gulch,  as  they  had  named  the  place, 
they  found  themselves  followed  by  two  or  three  hun- 
dred whites.  The  lucky  miners  tried  to  get  away 
from  the  others,  but  they  were  guarded  at  night  and 
followed  during  the  day  as  though  they  were  prisoners, 
so  they  finally  gave  it  up,  and  told  the  others  where  the 
creek  was.  Within  a  few  hours  after  they  reached  the 
creek,  hundreds  of  men  were  busy  digging  gold. 

Alder  Gulch  was  famously  rich  in  gold;  and  in 
two  years  there  were  thousands  of  miners  there  from 
all  parts  of  the  United  States.  The  little  town,  built 
of  log  cabins  and  shacks,  was  called  Virginia  City. 
Inside  of  two  years,  it  had  a  population  of  10,000 
people. 

Gold  was  discovered  in  Alder  Gulch  in  May,  1863. 


I 


GOLD  103 

Late  that  same  year,  just  before  snow  fell,  gold  was 
discovered  in  another  creek  which  was  called  Last 
Chance,  because  it  was  about  the  last  chance  of  finding 
gold  before  winter  set  in.  Helena  was  the  city  which 
grew  up  on  that  creek,  at  first  just  a  mining  town  like 
the  others,  but  now  a  beautiful  city  and  the  capital 
of  the  State. 

Confederate  Gulch  was  next,  and  that  was  wonder- 
fully rich  too.  Other  mines  were  found  rapidly  after 
that,  until,  in  1876  there  were  said  to  be  five  hundred 
gold-bearing  gulches  in  Montana. 

The  finding  of  gold  was  the  beginning  of  Montana's 
population.  Fifty  years  ago,  in  what  is  now  a  State, 
there  were  only  a  few  traders,  trappers,  missionaries, 
and  the  Indians.  Montana  had  no  boundary  lines.  It 
had  not  even  a  name.  It  was  simply  the  Land  of  the 
Shining  Mountains.  When  gold  was  found,  every- 
thing changed.  The  Indians  were  right.  They  knew 
that  if  the  whites  found  gold,  they  would  come 
by  thousands  into  the  mountains,  the  game  would  be 
driven  out,  and  the  beautiful  hunting-grounds  lost  to 
the  natives,  The  Indians  fought  one  famous  battle 


104  MONTANA:    AN  HISTORICAL  READER 

in  a  last,  hard  effort  to  drive  the  whites  out  of  the 
Shining  Mountains.  But  you  will  learn  about  that  in 
another  chapter. 

Gold  was  found  first,  then  silver  and  copper,  and 
both  added  to  the  population  and  wealth  of  the  Ter- 
ritory; for  just  a  year  after  Alder  Gulch  was  dis- 
covered, Montana  was  made  a  Territory  and  given 
a  name.  As  \ve  said  before,  it  was  called  Mon- 
tana because  of  its  mountains  -  -  the  beautiful  Shin- 
ing Mountains. 


CHAPTER  VIII 

VIGILANTE   DAYS 

\\  7ITH  the  discovery  of  gold  at  Alder  Gulch,  Last 
Chance  Gulch,  and  at  other  places,  thousands 
and  thousands  of  whites  came  into  the  Shining  Moun- 
tains. Some  of  these  were  honest  miners,  but  others 
were  deserters  from  the  army,  and  law-breakers  who 
had  run  away  from  the  States  to  escape  prison  or 
hanging. 

A  new  country  is  always  a  rough  place  and  this  is 
especially  true  of  a  new  mining  country.  In  the 
Shining  Mountains  part  of  the  men  were  there  to  dig 
for  gold.  The  others,  as  one  of  them  expressed  it, 
"found  it  easier  to  kill  a  man  for  his  gold  than  to  dig 
for  it." 

Montana  was  so  rough  in  those  early  days  that 
no  man's  life,  if  he  had  gold,  was  safe.  There  were 
no  police,  no  prisons,  no  lawyers,  no  judges,  and 
really  not  even  a  law.  The  Land  of  Shining  Mountains 

west  of  the  range  was  a  part  of  the  Territory  of  Idaho, 

105 


106  MONTANA:    AN  HISTORICAL  READER 

and  the  nearest  court  was  at  Lewiston;  all  east  of  the 
main  range  was  part  of  Dakota,  and  the  nearest  law- 
court  was  at  Yankton,  nearly  two  thousand  miles  away 
by  the  safest  route --the  river.  That  really  meant 
that  there  were  no  law-courts. 

When  a  miner  who  had  made  his  "pile"  decided 
to  go  home,  there  were  three  routes  by  which  he  could 
travel.  He  could  go  on  horseback  or  in  wagon  from 
Helena  to  Fort  Benton,  one  hundred  and  forty  miles 
away,  and  take  a  steamer  down  the  Missouri,  though 
he  might  have  to  wait  several  months  for  it,  or  go  down 
in  a  mackinaw.  Or,  he  might  follow  the  trail  to  Salt 
Lake  City  on  horseback.  The  third  way  was  to  take 
the  stage  from  Bannack  to  Salt  Lake  City.  This  was 
a  private  express,  which  had  succeeded  the  pony 
express  rider,  bringing  mail  from  Salt  Lake  City  at 
first  at  a  cost  of  two  dollars  and  fifty  cents  for  each 
letter.  Afterwards,  small  wagons  were  run  as  stages, 
until  the  Government  established  a  regular  line  after 
Montana  became  a  separate  Territory.  All  three 
routes  were  dangerous  on  account  of  Indians  and 
road-agents. 


VIGILANTE  DAYS  107 

Those  thieves,  who  found  it  easier  to  kill  a  man 
for  his  gold  than  to  dig  for  it,  soon  organized  them- 
selves into  a  band  for  robbery.  They  had 'the  pass- 
word "Innocent,"  wore  moustaches  and  beards,  and 
fastened  their  neckties  with  a  sailor  knot.  But  even 
without  the  password  and  the  other  signs,  they  knew 
each  other  and  knew  their  power.  The  cracks  of  their 
guns  and  pistols  were  heard  at  all  hours  of  the  day  and 
night  in  the  saloons  and  restaurants.  The  streets 
were  dangerous  because  of  stray  bullets,  and  men  were 
murdered  in  cold  blood  in  broad  daylight. 

Besides  all  this,  one  stage  after  another  which  was 
known  to  contain  gold-dust  was  held  up,  and  the 
passengers  robbed.  Miners  who  had  started  for 
home  on  horseback,  whether  alone  or  in  groups,  were 
found  dead  along  the  trail,  or  their  bodies  hidden 
among  the  bushes.  At  first,  it  was  thought  that 
hostile  Indians  were  to  blame,  but  miners  soon  learned 
the  truth. 

The  honest  miners  were  terrorized.  No  man  knew 
whom  he  could  trust;  so  they  remained  unorganized, 
while  the  thieves,  under  the  leadership  of  a  clever 


108  MONTANA:    AN  HISTORICAL  READER 

captain,  had  everything  their  own  way.  Murderers 
came  and  went  in  the  streets,  with  no  one  to  arrest 
them  and  few  who  dared  even  to  criticise  them.  To 
do  so  was  certain  death.  There  were  days  and 
weeks  of  terror,  when  lawless  men  held  control  of  the 
country.  Many  a  miner  would  have  returned  to  his 
home  had  he  dared  to  travel. 

Travelling  became  more  and  more  dangerous. 
Every  stage  that  was  known  to  have  money  in  it  was 
held  up.  The  road-agents  seldom  made  a  mistake, 
because  each  robber  was  watchful  when  there  was  a 
chance  of  plunder,  and  sent  word  to  the  band. 

The  distance  between  Bannack  and  Virginia  City 
was  seventy  miles,  through  a  country  with  several 
ravines  and  with  dense  patches  of  brushwood.  Usually 
the  trip  could  be  made  between  sunrise  and  sunset, 
but  where  robbery  was  intended  the  stage  was  fre- 
quently delayed  by  seeming  accidents.  Many  of  the 
stage-drivers  and  some  of  the  guards  belonged  to  the 
band.  The  relay  stations  at  ranches  where  the  horses 
were  changed  were  frequently  in  charge  of  road-agents. 
So  it  was  an  easy  matter  to  have  poor  horses  to  start 


VIGILANTE  DAYS  109 

with,  when  there  was  gold-dust  on  board,  or  not  to  be 
able  to  find  fresh  horses  when  a  relay  station  was 
reached.  If,  in  addition  to  this,  there  was  a  snow 
storm,  the  stage  was  sure  to  be  very  late. 

As  one  of  these  delayed  stages  entered  a  lonely 
stretch  of  road,  the  driver  caught  sight  of  three  or  four 
queer-looking  horsemen  in  the  road  ahead.  The 
men's  faces  were  covered  with  loose  masks,  and  they 
were  wrapped  in  blankets  of  green  and  blue.  Even 
the  horses  were  covered  with  blankets,  only  the  heads, 
tails,  and  legs  showing,  so  that  they  could  not  be 
recognized. 

"Halt!  Throw  up  your  hands!"  was  the  first 
order.  All  hands  went  up  in  the  air.  "Get  down, 
all  of  you."  The  unlucky  passengers  clambered  out 
of  the  stage  and  lined  up  in  the  road  with  hands  high 
in  the  air  and  three  rifles  aimed  at  their  heads.  The 
fourth  man  went  through  the  baggage  and  the  mail 
sacks,  looking  for  gold-dust.  Then  the  passengers 
were  robbed  of  what  they  had  in  their  pockets. 

One  stage  after  another  was  robbed  in  this  way, 
and  while  men  knew  quite  well  who  were  responsible 


110  MONTANA:    AN  HISTORICAL  READER 

and  sometimes  recognized  the  road-agents,  they  dared 
not  say  so. 

Two  men,  N.  P.  Langford  and  S.  T.  Hauser, 
the  latter  afterwards  Governor  of  Montana,  had 
fourteen  thousand  dollars  in  gold-dust,  which  they 
were  taking  to  Salt  Lake  City  for  a  wholesale  store 
in  Virginia  City.  A  crippled  shoemaker,  thought  to 
be  an  honest  man,  who  had  his  bench  in  the  store, 
heard  all  their  plans  for  escaping  road-agents.  He 
was  a  road-agent  himself,  and  sent  word  to  the  band. 
When  these  two  men  got  on  the  stage  at  Virginia  City 
for  Bannack,  they  were  surprised  to  find  Henry 
Plummer  a  passenger.  He  was  sheriff  of  the  county, 
but  was  also  chief  of  the  road-agents,  and  they  sus- 
pected his  real  character.  Mr.  Hauser  guessed  that 
he  was  planning  to  rob  them  after  they  left  Bannack, 
so  he  made  no  effort  to  hide  the  money.  At  the  hotel 
at  Bannack,  in  the  presence  of  several  men,  he  sud- 
denly remarked:  "Plummer,  I  hear  that  any  man 
who  has  money  is  n't  safe  in  this  town  over  night.  I've 
got  fourteen  thousand  dollars  in  this  bag  which  I  am 
going  to  take  to  the  States  with  me,  and  I  want  you, 


VIGILANTE   DAYS  111 

as  sheriff,  to  keep  it  for  me."  Plummer  promised  to 
return  it,  and  Mr.  Hauser  knew  that  even  if  he  had 
lost  his  money  by  his  boldness  he  had  saved  his  life. 

Next  day  the  money  was  returned,  and  late  in  the 
evening  tlie  two  men,  with  eight  Mormon  freighters, 
started  in  a  lumber  wagon  for  Salt  Lake  City.  Before 
they  started,  Plummer  gave  Mr.  Hauser  a  bright  red 
scarf,  saying,  "  You  will  find  it  useful  these  cold  nights." 
It  was  Plummer 's  private  mark  on  him,  for  the  road- 
agents. 

The  night  was  clear  and  cold.  The  men  rode 
until  late,  all  with  guns  ready  for  action.  When  they 
camped,  most  of  them  went  to  sleep;  but  Mr.  Lang- 
ford  was  so  cold  he  could  not  sleep,  and  after  a  time 
he  went  to  the  bank  of  the  little  stream  to  gather  fire- 
wood. While  there  he  heard  low  voices  and,  creeping 
quietly  into  the  willows,  saw  three  men  approach  him. 
They  were  masked.  When  they  saw  him  they  dis- 
appeared. He  came  back  to  the  camp  for  a  few 
minutes,  then  returned  to  the  stream,  waded  through 
the  bitterly  cold  water,  and  crawled  through  the  willows 
until  he  suddenly  came  upon  four  masked  men.  One 


112  MONTANA:    AN  HISTORICAL  READER 

was  holding  four  horses  and  the  others  had  just  re- 
turned from  an  exploring  expedition  to  Langford's 
camp.  Plummer,  the  sheriff  of  the  county,  was  one 
of  them.  They  had  intended  to  attack  the  camp, 
but  Langford's  sleeplessness  had  saved  it. 

Murders  went  on  daily.  One  road-agent  said  he 
would  as  soon  kill  a  man  as  eat  his  breakfast.  And 
these  hardened  villains  watched  very  closely  to  pre- 
vent the  miners  from  organizing  against  them. 
Finally,  a  miner  who  was  a  Mason  died  of  mountain 
fever  --  the  first  man  in  many  months  who  had  died  a 
natural  death  in  those  rough  days.  The  funeral 
ceremonies  brought  all  the  Masons  together,  and  when 
they  saw  how  many  there  were  of  their  own  number, 
they  suddenly  realized  their  opportunity  to  organize 
against  the  road-agents.  They  were  watched,  but 
said  they  were  going  to  organize  a  Masonic  lodge,  and 
that  deceived  the  roughs. 

Shortly  afterwards  an  honest  miner  was  killed  in 
cold  blood,  and  the  people  resolved  to  punish  the 
criminal.  He  was  tried  in  an  open-air  court,  with 
Wilbur  F.  Sanders,  one  of  the  great  men  of  Montana, 


VIGILANTE  DAYS  113 

as  one  of  the  prosecuting  attorneys.  Mr.  Sanders 
knew  he  took  his  life  in  his  hand,  for  although  the 
crime  was  confessed,  the  murderer  did  not  think  the 
people  would  dare  to  hang  him.  Late  in  the  day, 
after  sunset,  when  the  trial  was  ended,  it  was  moved 
that  the  criminal  be  hanged.  His  friends  w^ere  watch- 
ing on  the  edge  of  the  crowd  and  pistols  were  cocked 
and  revolvers  aimed;  but  the  vote  was  for  hanging. 
Colonel  Sanders  then  moved  that  he  be  hanged  "forth- 
with" to  prevent  his  escape.  As  the  Colonel  made 
that  motion  he  looked  into  the  barrels  of  guns  pointed 
at  him  from  road-agents  in  the  crowd.  The  roofs 
were  crowded  with  people,  and  glancing  up,  he  looked 
into  the  barrels  of  other  guns  aimed  at  him  from  the 
roofs.  The  motion  was  carried  to  the  utter  surprise 
of  the  roughs.  The  flash  of  revolvers  was  seen  every- 
where in  the  moonlight.  But  the  guards  stood  firm, 
and  the  guns  of  a  hundred  miners  clicked  as  they 
stood  like  a  wall  to  prevent  the  rescue  of  the  prisoner. 
It  was  a  strange  scene  in  the  pale  moonlight  and  the 
glare  of  the  great  bonfire.  The  prisoner  was  hanged. 
This  trial  was  of  the  greatest  importance,  for  it  gave 


114  MONTANA:    AN  HISTORICAL  READER 

the  honest  men  sudden  courage.  They  saw  they  were 
more  numerous  than  they  had  thought,  and  they  knew 
that  if  they  organized  they  could  rid  the  mining  towns 
of  these  desperate  criminals.  So  they  did  organize, 
and  were  called  Vigilantes. 

One  desperado  after  another  was  caught  and 
hanged,  but  seldom  until  after  he  had  confessed  his 
crimes.  Finally,  one  of  them  gave  the  vigilantes  a 
list  of  the  members  of  the  band,  and  with  that  they 
scoured  the  country,  going  sometimes  sixty  miles  in 
snow  and  ice  to  catch  a  road-agent.  The  weather 
was  intensely  cold,  and  often  their  route  lay  over  a 
lofty  mountain  with  dense  snow  in  the  passes.  One 
party  camped  for  two  days  in  a  clump  of  willows  in  the 
snow,  with  no  other  protection  than  the  bushes,  the 
thermometer  below  zero,  and  no  fire  except  what  they 
could  get  from  the  green  willow  branches  ~-  and  all  to 
capture  one  road-agent. 

A  road-agent  was  eating  his  breakfast  one  morning, 
when  he  heard  a  knock  at  the  door,  and  opened  it. 
"Hands  up,"  said  the  vigilantes.  Within  an  hour  he 
was  hanged.  Henry  Plummer's  turn  came  at  last. 


VIGILANTE  DAYS  115 

One  afternoon  while  washing  his  face,  he  heard  a 
knock.  As  he  opened  the  door,  vigilantes  stepped 
inside.  "Come  with  us,"  was  all  they  said.  He 
answered  that  he  would  as  soon  as  he  put  on  his  coat; 
but  a  vigilante  was  quick  enough  to  snatch  the 
revolver  from  its  pocket  before  he  could  reach  it. 

Nearly  every  man  hanged  by  the  vigilantes  con- 
fessed that  he  had  been  guilty  of  murder,  and  some  of 
them  admitted  that  they  had  killed  as  many  as  ten 
or  twelve  men. 

Between  December,  1863,  and  February,  1864,  in 
six  weeks'  time,  twenty-four  road-agents  were  hanged 
by  vigilantes.  Many  others  were  ordered  out  of  the 
country,  and  as  a  result  murders  and  robberies  became 
less  frequent.  Yet  times  continued  to  be  rough,  as 
they  always  are  in  mining  camps,  and  for  years  after- 
wards men  were  shot  down  in  the  open  streets.  Yet 
it  was  only  two  years  after  the  vigilantes  did  their 
work  that  it  was  necessary  to  send  two  and  a  half 
tons  of  gold  ore  from  Helena  to  Fort  Benton,  to  be 
shipped  down  the  river  to  St.  Louis.  This  gold  was 
worth  $1,500,000,  but  it  reached  the  steamer  safely. 


116  MONTANA:    AN  HISTORICAL  READER 

Reports  of  the  murders  and  robberies  by  the  road- 
agents  had  reached  the  Government  at  Washington, 
and  because  the  country  was  filling  up  and  needed 
law-courts,  on  May  26,  1864,  the  Land  of  the  Shining 
Mountains  was  made  into  a  Territory  called  Montana. 
After  the  Fall  of  1864,  regular  courts  with  lawyers 
and  judges  were  organized,  and  later  the  vigilantes 
disbanded  because  their  work  wras  done.  They  had 
taken  the  law  into  their  own  hands  because  in  those 
early  days  there  were  no  courts  and  no  recognized 
law;  but  they  succeeded  in  protecting  innocent 
people  and  in  punishing  guilty  ones. 


CHAPTER  IX 

PIONEER  DAYS 

'T^HE  pioneer  period  in  Montana  covered  about 
seventy  years,  that  is,  from  the  Lewis  and  Clark 
Expedition  in  1805  to  the  Custer  massacre  on  the  Little 
Big  Horn  in  1876.  This  battle,  which  ended  serious 
danger  from  Indians,  came  but  a  year  or  two  before 
the  building  of  the  first  railroad  across  Montana. 
After  the  railroad  came  and  travelling  was  made  easy 
and  freight  could  be  shipped  more  rapidly  and  more 
cheaply  than  by  boat  or  wagon,  pioneer  days  may  be 
said  to  have  ended.  But  during  those  seventy  years, 
all  Montana  pioneers,  whether  traders,  trappers,  mis- 
sionaries, road-builders,  or  gold-seekers,  found  the 
new  country  a  very  hard  one  in  which  to  live. 

To  the  east  stretched  nearly  a  thousand  miles  of 
savage-haunted  plains  to  the  Mississippi  River,  be- 
yond which  lay  "the  States."  To  the  west  were  steep 
mountains,  dense  forests,  fertile  valleys,  and  broad 
stretches  of  sagebrush  lands  to  the  Pacific  Ocean, 

117 


118  MONTANA:    AN  HISTORICAL  READER 

which  was  another  thousand  miles  away.  The  Oregon 
Trail,  the  one  well-beaten  track  for  all  travel,  was 
south  of  Montana.  So  the  Land  of  the  Shining  Moun- 
tains was  a  little  off  to  one  side  for  general  travel,  and 
too  mountainous  to  be  attractive  except  to  trappers 
and  gold-seekers. 

The  first  trappers  came  in  1806,  and  the  first  fort 
was  established  in  1807  on  the  lower  Yellowstone. 
It  was  to  this  fort  that  John  Colter  made  his  way 
after  his  race  with  the  Indians.  Other  small  trading- 
posts  were  established  along  the  rivers,  wherever  they 
were  most  likely  to  attract  Indian  trade;  and  in  1832 
Fort  Union  was  built,  and  the  first  steamboat  came  up 
the  Missouri  River.  For  a  great  many  years  after 
that,  however,  the  passengers  on  the  boats  were  nearly 
all  Indians,  traders,  trappers,  a  few  adventurous 
natures,  like  Audubon  the  naturalist  and  Prince  Maxi- 
milian of  Wied,  and  travellers  to  the  Oregon  country, 
who  began  their  overland  journey,  in  later  years,  at 
Fort  Benton. 

In  1833  the  first  missionaries  came  and  stopped 
among  the  Flatheads  for  a  few  weeks;  then  they  went 


PIONEER   DAYS  119 

on  to  Oregon.  In  1841  came  the  first  missionaries 
who  remained  among  the  Shining  Mountains.  They 
lived  in  tepees  for  a  while,  as  did  the  trappers,  and 
ate  Indian  food,  such  as  buffalo  meat,  service  berries, 
wild  cherries,  buffalo  berries,  and  wild  plums.  The 
Indian  vegetables  were  camas  root,  bitter  root,  wild 
onions,  the  roots  of  the  water  plants,  and  of  the  wild 
lily-of  -the-  valley. 

Food  was  sometimes  very  plentiful  and  sometimes 
very  scarce.  The  forts  on  the  river  could  get  flour 
and  sugar,  salt,  pepper,  bacon,  and  coffee  when  the  boats 
came  up  once  a  year,  but  the  whites  in  the  mountains 
had  to  go  without  these  things.  When  the  buffalo 
herds  were  near-by,  there  was  great  abundance  of  food 
and  a  great  deal  of  waste,  but  when  the  herds  went 
north  into  what  is  now  British  Columbia,  neither  In- 
dians nor  whites  had  enough.  After  their  supply  of 
pemmican  had  been  eaten,  they  had  to  depend  en- 
tirely upon  fish,  roots,  and  berries,  and  there  was  often 
danger  of  starvation. 

The  missionaries  began  to  build  log  cabins  and  to 
plant  gardens;  but  think  how  far  away  their  supplies 


120  MONTANA:    AN  HISTORICAL  READER 

were!  In  1841  one  of  them  had  to  go  three  hundred 
miles  on  horseback,  over  the  wild  Bitter  Root  Moun- 
tains, to  Fort  Colville,  in  eastern  Washington,  just  to 
buy  a  few  bushels  of  oats,  wheat,  and  potatoes.  It 
was  a  hard,  dangerous  trip,  and  required  forty-two  days. 

The  next  year  he  needed  more  supplies,  not  ^  only 
seeds  and  potatoes,  but  agricultural  implements  which 
could  not  be  bought  at  Fort  Colville,  so  he  had  to  go 
to  Fort  Vancouvre,  almost  on  the  Pacific  coast,  and 
nearly  a  thousand  miles  away.  Guided  by  Indians, 
the  party  started  off  through  the  forests  on  horseback. 
It  was  a  hard  journey.  Branches  scratched  their 
faces;  the  trees  were  sometimes  so  close  together  that 
the  horses  almost  scraped  the  riders  off.  The  ground 
was  covered  with  fallen  trunks,  which  had  to  be  climbed 
over  or  gone  around,  or  sometimes  chopped  out  of 
the  way;  and  when  there  was  any  snow,  the  slightest 
touch  would  bring  dowTn  a  mass  of  it  from  the  swaying 
branches.  One  man  was  caught  around  the  neck  by 
the  branch  of  a  tree  in  such  a  way  that  his  horse  walked 
cut  from  under  him  and  left  him  hanging  in  the  air. 

Every  year  this  long  journey  was  made  to  the  coast 


PIONEER   DAYS  121 

for  supplies,  and  sometimes  the  travellers  would  be 
nearly  home  again,  when  suddenly  they  would  hear 
the  Indian  war-whoop  behind  them  in  the  forest. 
Pack-horses  with  all  supplies  were  run  off  by  the 
thievish  Indians,  and  after  all  their  long  trip  the  trav- 
ellers had  nothing.  This  was  the  one  time  in  the 
year  when  the  missionaries  heard  from  the  outside 
world. 

Whites  on  the  river  heard  from  this  outside  world 
when  the  boat  came  up.  That  was  the  great  event  of 
the  year.  Traders  and  trappers  came  in  from  all  the 
surrounding  country,  and  Indians  did  also,  since  they 
knew  that  trading  would  be  good  and  whiskey  plentiful. 
Until  1858,  however,  the  boats  did  not  go  beyond  Fort 
Union.  In  that  year  they  went  to  Fort  Benton.  The  , 
boats  were  greeted  with  cheers  and  shouts,  with  the 
boom  of  cannon  and  the  firing  of  revolvers.  It  was 
the  great  holiday  of  the  year.  If  a  boat  burned  on 
the  river,  however,  as  sometimes  happened,  traders  had 
to  wait  another  year  for  letters  or  papers  or  supplies 
of  any  sort. 

You  can  see  that  if  the  whites  in  the  Shining  Moun- 


122  MONTANA:    AN  HISTORICAL  READER 

tains  heard  from  the  outside  world  only  once  a  year, 
people  in  "the  States"  were  not  likely  to  know  very 
much  about  them  or  about  the  country.  Yet  they  did 
know  about  Oregon,  and  many  people  wanted  to 
reach  Oregon  without  going  across  the  dangerous 
plains,  or  without  taking  the  long  ocean  trip  from 
New  York  to  Fort  Vancouvre.  So  about  1850  a 
railroad  across  that  strange,  wild  country  began  to 
be  talked  of.  Many  favored  it,  and  many  opposed. 
Daniel  Webster  and  other  Congressmen  objected  to 
having  the  Government  own  Oregon  or,  indeed,  to 
having  it  pay  any  attention  to  the  Far  West.  He  said : 

;<  What  do  we  want  with  this  vast  worthless  area,  this 
region  of  savages  and  wild  beasts,  of  deserts  of  shifting 
sands  and  whirlwinds  of  dust,  of  cactus  and  prairie 
dogs  ?  To  what  use  could  we  ever  put  those  great 
deserts  or  endless  mountain  ranges,  impenetrable  and 
covered  to  their  base  with  the  eternal  snow  ?  " 

These  "endless  mountain  ranges"  were  our  own 
Shining  Mountains.  The  "great  deserts,"  now 
watered  by  irrigation,  are  beautiful  farming  lands. 

A  railroad  was  decided  upon,  however,  and  in  1853 


PIONEER  DAYS  123 

General  Isaac  I.  Stevens  came  up  the  river  in  charge 
of  a  Government  expedition;  two  years  later  he 
made  a  treaty  with  the  Flathead  Indians,  the  Pend 
d'Oreilles,  the  Kootenais,  and  other  tribes.  The 
Indians  sold  their  country  and  agreed  to  go  on  reser- 
vations, while  the  whites  planned  their  railroad,  which 
was  to  pass  through  the  Rocky  Mountains  to  the  Oregon 
country. 

In  1862,  you  will  remember,  came  the  discovery  of 
gold  and  the  real  beginning  of  settlement  in  Montana. 
It  was  the  beginning,  also,  of  a  pioneering  of  a  different 
sort  —  not  that  of  trappers  and  traders,  living  in  Indian 
tepees,  but  that  of  gold-seekers  and  settlers. 

Miners  flocked  into  the  country,  while  there  were 
no  means  of  supplying  their  needs  for  food  or  clothing. 
The  few  gardens  were  far  away,  attached  to  the  forts 
or  the  missions.  The  only  food,  aside  from  buffalo  and 
deer  meat,  fish,  roots,  and  berries,  was  that  brought 
up  by  the  steamers.  Although  at  this  time  boats  came 
as  far  as  Fort  Benton,  and  several  boats  a  year  instead 
of  one,  yet  the  Civil  War  was  in  progress,  nearly  all 
the  tribes  were  on  the  war-path,  trying  in  every  way 


124  MONTANA:    AN   HISTORICAL  READER 

to  prevent  the  whites  in  the  fire-canoes  from  coming  up 
the  river,  and,  as  a  result,  food  supplies  were  very  scarce. 

Prices  on  groceries  of  all  kinds  were  very  high. 
During  one  year,  in  the  early  gold  rush,  beans  were 
one  dollar  and  twenty-five  cents  a  pound,  flour  one 
dollar,  coffee  one  dollar  and  twenty-five  cents,  nails 
one  dollar,  sugar  one  dollar  and  fifty  cents,  and  bacon 
one  dollar  and  twenty-five  cents.  Potatoes  were  eight 
dollars  a  bushel.  In  1864,  supplies  were  so  scarce 
at  any  price  that  it  was  called  the  "meat  straight" 
year,  since  settlers  had  to  depend  almost  entirely 
upon  meat. 

The  year  1864  was  important  to  the  pioneers.  In 
May,  Montana  was  made  a  Territory,  and  in  July  the 
Government  established  a  regular  mail  service,  with 
stage  transportation,  between  Bannack  and  Salt  Lake 
City.  Postage  on  every  letter  was  one  dollar.  That 
was  really  cheap,  for  it  had  been  two  dollars  and 
fifty  cents  on  every  letter  or  paper  brought  to  the 
mines.  Outgoing  letters  were  all  addressed  with 
the  juice  of  the  wild  gooseberry,  which  was  the  only 
ink  to  be  had. 


PIONEER  DAYS  125 

Pioneers  who  used  the  stage  line  between  Bannack 
and  Salt  Lake  City  did  not  find  it  very  comfortable. 
Even  if  the  fear  of  Indians  and  road-agents  did  not 
keep  a  man  awrake,  the  jolting  of  the  stage  did.  Every 
passenger  had  to  sit  bolt  upright  and  catch  a  wink  of 
sleep  as  he  could.  The  trip  took  ninety-two  hours 
(four  days  and  four  nights)  and  some  passengers  could 
not  get  over  five  or  six  hours  of  sleep.  At  meal  stations 
along  the  road  it  was  impossible  to  eat  the  food.  At 
Sand  Hole,  the  meal  served  at  a  log  cabin  for  one 
dollar  consisted  of  sagebrush  tea,  strong  butter,  heavy, 
sour  bread,  and  greasy  pork.  The  passengers  could 
not  eat  it,  but  had  to  pay  for  it. 

The  earliest  courts  in  Montana  were  miners'  courts. 
They  were  held  in  the  open  air. 

The  first  legislature  in  Montana  was  held  in  two 
log  cabins  at  Bannack.  The  rooms  were  lighted  by 
tallow  candles,  heated  by  sheet-iron  stoves,  and  fur- 
nished with  merely  a  desk  and  a  bench  of  pine  apiece. 
One  copy  of  the  Idaho  statutes  made  up  the  library. 
Compare  that  with  the  beautiful  capitol  building  now 
at  Helena. 


126  MONTANA:    AN  HISTORICAL  READER 

The  first  public  school  in  Montana  opened  March 
5,  1866,  in  Virginia  City.  There  were  no  books  to  be 
bought  except  spellers,  and  not  enough  even  of  those; 
so  every  child  used  as  a  school  book  any  easy  book 
which  he  might  have. 

The  first  newspaper  was  The  Montana.  Post,  started 
in  the  cellar  of  a  log  cabin  at  Virginia  City,  August 
27,  1864,  and  moved  to  Helena  in  May,  1868.  The 
News  Letter  of  Bannack  was  really  the  very  first  news- 
paper; but  it  was  a  tiny  sheet  and  was  not  published 
long.  There  were  no  telegraph  lines  and  no  railroad 
within  several  hundred  miles,  so  it  was  hard  to  get  news 
from  the  East,  and  that  was  what  was  particularly 
wanted.  The  telegraph  line  between  Salt  Lake  City 
and  Virginia  City  was  completed  November  3,  1866. 

Helena,  in  pioneer  days,  was  a  typical  frontier 
town.  In  1864  it  had  a  population  of  several  thousand 
people,  housed  in  log  cabins,  wickiups,  shacks,  and 
tents.  The  narrow  streets  were  blocked  with  men,  and 
merchandise  was  brought  up  the  river  to  Fort  Benton 
and  freighted  overland.  Ox  trains,  mule  teams,  and 
pack-trains  surrounded  the  mining-camp.  Sunday 


PIONEER  DAYS  127 

was  the  wildest,  busiest  day  of  the  week.  Auctioneers 
cried  their  sales,  carpenters  pounded  as  they  built 
storehouses  or  log  cabins,  or  made  sluices  for  wash- 
ing out  gold.  Wild  mustangs,  never  before  saddled  or 
bridled,  plunged  through  the  crowded  streets,  kicking 
and  bucking  in  their  efforts  to  shake  off  their  riders. 
The  saloons  were  crowded. 

Bannack  was  a  little  older  than  Helena,  but  just  the 
same  sort  of  mining-camp.  A  minister  who  reached 
Bannack  in  1864  created  a  great  sensation  by  having 
an  umbrella.  He  was  greeted  with  loud  cries  of  "Pil- 
grim!" "Tenderfoot!"  and  because  he  was  quiet 
and  did  not  dig  for  money,  he  was  suspected  of  being 
a  road-agent  and  closely  watched  for  six  months. 

He  went  to  the  "hotel"  -merely  a  log  cabin - 
and  was  given  a  room.  He  paid  one  hundred  dollars 
a  week  in  currency  (forty  dollars  in  gold-dust)  for 
this  room,  but  it  proved  to  be  nothing  more  than  a 
place  to  sleep  on  the  ground,  in  a  corner  of  the  office. 
Afterwards,  as  a  cheaper  means  of  living,  he  rented 
a  log  cabin.  It  had  but  one  window  and  a  door, 
and  was  furnished  with  boxes.  One  large  box  served 


128  MONTANA:    AN  HISTORICAL  READER 

for  a  table,  cupboard,  and  desk.  Smaller  ones  were 
used  as  chairs.  He  paid  twenty-eight  dollars  in  bills 
for  enough  ticking  to  make  a  mattress  and  pillows,  and 
stuffed  them  with  dry  grass.  Even  then  the  poor  man 
was  not  very  happy,  because  mice  liked  the  dry  grass 
and  he  could  not  keep  them  out  of  his  bed. 

This  minister's  church  was  a  hall  next  door  to  a 
gambling-den.  The  first  Sunday  he  tried  to  preach 
a  brass-band  was  playing  on  the  other  side  of  the  thin 
partition,  and  miners  in  heavy  hobnailed  boots  were 
dancing  on  the  bare  floor.  Since  his  congregation, 
a  few  men  who  came  out  of  curiosity  to  see  him,  could 
not  hear  a  word  he  said,  he  studied  them  and  their  dress. 
Every  man,  with  very  few  exceptions,  wore  buckskin 
trousers,  a  bowie  knife  in  the  leg  of  his  boot,  and  Mex- 
ican spurs  on  the  heels.  The  few  men  who  had  not  yet 
adopted  buckskin  suits  were  comparatively  newcomers, 
and  they  had  patched  their  coats  and  trousers  with 
cloth  from  flour  sacks,  and  the  lettering  "I.  X.  L."  or 
"Excelsior"  could  be  very  .plainly  read. 

Gold-dust  was  the  only  money  used  by  the  pioneers. 
Every  store,  hotel,  and  saloon  had  scales  for  weighing 


PIONEER  DAYS  129 

it.  Miners'  wages  were  eight  and  ten  dollars  a  day, 
payable  in  gold-dust,  which  was  worth  about  fifteen 
dollars  an  ounce. 

The  country  filled  up  rapidly.  Besides  the  numbers 
which  came  across  the  plains  from  the  Mississippi 
River  or  from  California,  thousands  came  up  the  Mis- 
souri River.  In  1865,  instead  of  one  steamer,  forty 
fire-canoes  brought  men  and  merchandise  to  Fort 
Benton.  Trains  of  groceries,  dry  goods,  and  strange 
machinery  moved  across  the  country  from  the  fort; 
little  towns  sprang  up  here  and  there,  usually  where  gold 
was  found ;  white  men  were  pouring  into  the  country,  and 
the  buffaloes  were  disappearing.  This  made  trouble 
for  the  pioneers  with  the  Indians,  who  were  almost 
starving,  because  the  buffaloes  were  being  killed  off 
and  frightened  away.  Council  after  council  was  called 
in  trying  to  avoid  Indian  raids  and  massacres. 

Indian  troubles  in  Montana,  except  for  the  battle 
of  the  Big  Hole  and  that  on  the  Little  Big  Horn,  were 
never  extensive;  yet  many  whites  were  killed  before 
the  Indians  lost  their  power,  and  the  Blackfeet  were 
always  dangerous. 


130  MONTANA:    AN  HISTORICAL  READER 

Montana,  as  we  see  it  to-day  with  its  great  ranches, 
fragrant  apple  orchards,  and  gleaming  wheat  fields,  is 
very  different  from  the  strange  land,  covered  only 
with  beautiful  wild  flowers  or  prickly  pear  cactus 
which  the  early  pioneers  saw.  Our  great  cattle  ranges 
bear  no  resemblance  to  the  vast  brown  herds  of  hump- 
backed buffaloes  which  wandered  over  the  plains, 
nor  do  the  well-kept  cities  with  comfortable  houses, 
lawns,  and  restful  parks  look  at  all  like  the  shacks  and 
cabins  which  used  to  occupy  the  same  land. 


CHAPTER  X 

INDIAN   BATTLES 

j| 

rriWO  Indian  battles  are  famous  in  the  history  of 
Montana.  One  was  Ouster's  last  fight  on  the 
Little  Big  Horn;  the  other,  the  battle  of  the  Big  Hole. 
There  were  smaller  fights,  of  course,  because  the 
Blackfeet  always  hated  the  whites,  and  because  all 
Indians  wanted  scalps;  but  these  two  battles  were 
important. 

There  was  a  reason  for  all  this  fighting.  The  In- 
dians at  first  had  been  glad  to  deal  with  the  traders, 
because  they  could  get  their  calicoes  and  guns  and 
whiskey  in  no  other  way;  but  when  they  saw  how 
many  pale-faces  were  coming  into  their  country  in  the 
fire-canoes  and  over  the  Great  Medicine  Road,  and 
how  the  buffaloes  and  deer  were  being  frightened 
away,  they  began  to  be  angry. 

Then,  in  1855,  General  Isaac  I.  Stevens  came  into 
the  Shining  Mountanis  to  buy  Indian  lands,  so  that  a 

railroad  could  be  built.     But  Indians  never  knew  in 

131 


132  MONTANA:    AN   HISTORICAL   READER 

those  days  what  selling  meant.  Their  idea  of  selling 
was  to  give  up  their  lands  for  a  while,  take  the  presents 
the  whites  gave  them,  and  then  claim  the  land  again. 
They  really  did  not  know  what  owning  meant.  If  a 
tribe  had  lived  in  a  certain  valley  for  a  great  many  years, 
they  claimed  it  as  their  land,  but  the  tribe,  as  a  whole, 
owned  it.  No  one  in  the  tribe  owned  a  single  acre  of  it. 

When  the  Indians  sold  their  lands,  they  were  put  on 
reservations,  and  every  year  annuities  were  sent  them. 
These  annuities  included  money,  woollen  blankets 
(which  the  Indians  liked  better  than  buffalo  robes), 
sugar,  coffee,  flour,  calico,  beads,  looking-glasses,  and 
many  other  things.  They  could  still  hunt,  and  they 
were  not  kept  on  their  reservations  as  they  are  now. 

Now,  at  best,  this  plan  could  not  have  pleased  the 
Indians  very  long.  But  many  of  the  agents  were  dis- 
honest, and  that  made  matters  wrorse.  They  gave 
them  only  part  of  the  annuities,  sold  the  rest,  and 
kept  the  money.  The  Indians  were  keen  enough  to 
see  this  trickery.  Then  they  saw  the  whites  building' 
log  cabins  in  their  country,  planting  gardens,  digging 
gold,  and  worse  than  everything  else,  killing  and  driv- 


CURLEY,   CUSTER'S  SCOUT 


INDIAN  BATTLES  133 

ing  off  the  buffaloes  and  deer.  Now,  Indians  could 
not  live  their  usual  life  without  the  buffaloes  and  other 
wild  animals.  It  was  harder  and  harder  to  find  food 
for  the  tribe,  and  they  became  more  and  more  restless. 
They  left  their  reservations  and  tried  to  force  the 
whites  out  of  the  country.  They  camped  around  the 
woodpiles  and  tried  to  turn  back  the  steamers  as  they 
came  up  the  river.  They  attacked  travellers  coming 
overland.  From  the  Mississippi  River  to  the  Shining 
Mountains  the  Indians,  especially  the  plains  Indians, 
were  on  the  warpath.  They  "dug  up  the  tomahawk," 
as  they  expressed  it.  They  "raised  the  war-club,"  and 
they  "prepared  eagle  feathers  for  their  hair."  Every 
eagle  feather  meant  a  scalp,  you  know.  All  over  the 
plains  there  were  massacres  by  Indians,  but  very  few 

in  the  mountains  until  after  1862,  because  there  were 

t 
not  many  whites  there. 

By  1876,  however,  the  Indians  were  thoroughly 
aroused.  Game  of  every  sort  was  disappearing.  They 
bought  guns,  powder,  and  bullets,  gradually  slipped 
off  the  reservations,  and  gathered  along  the  Yellow- 
stone River  in  Montana. 


134  MONTANA:    AN  HISTORICAL  READER 

This  country  along  the  Yellowstone  was  the  Indian 
"story-land."  The  beautiful  sweep  of  the  mountains, 
the  broad  valleys  w^ith  abundant  green  grass,  the  wide 
rivers,  and  more  than  all,  the  thousands  of  buffaloes, 
elk,  and  mountain  sheep  which  still  lived  there,  made 
the  Indians  love  it. 

The  Government  became  alarmed  and  ordered  the 
Indians  back  on  their  reservations.  They  refused, 
because  they  meant  to  drive  the  pale-faces  out  of  their 
country.  That  meant  war. 

On  the  Little  Big  Horn  the  Indians  had  gathered 
when  the  white  soldiers  came  to  attack  them.  The 
redskins  were  led  by  Sitting  Bull,  a  famous  Sioux  medi- 
cine man.  The  soldiers  were  led  in  the  actual  attack 
by  Major-General  George  Custer,  a  well-known  Indian 
fighter;  but  General  Crook,  General  Terry,  and  Gen- 
eral Gibbon  were  at  the  head  of  this  little  army,  which 
in  three  sections  was  to  meet  at  the  mouth  of  the 
river.  There  were  in  all  about  2,500  soldiers.  Sitting 
Bull  was  supposed  to  have  between  400  and  500  war- 
riors, but  that  was  a  great  mistake.  It  was  nearer 
5,000.  Besides,  the  Indians  were  armed  with  the  best 


INDIAN  BATTLES  135 

rifles  and  had  plenty  of  ammunition.  The  troops  had 
poorer  guns  because  the  rifles  which  the  traders  sold 
the  Indians  were  actually  better  than  those  supplied 
by  the  Government  to  men  who  had  to  fight  Indians. 
That  was  another  serious  mistake. 

Now,  General  Custer  with  his  own  regiment  of 
600  men  was  the  first  to  reach  the  Little  Big  Horn 
and  discover  the  Indian  camp.  When  he  saw.  the 
Indians  and  knew  they  had  seen  him,  he  knew 
he  must  fight  without  waiting  for  the  other  troops. 
He  was  sure  he  had  enough  men  in  his  own  regi- 
ment, and  thought  he  must  attack  them  before  they 
could  send  out  scouts  and  get  other  warriors  to  join 
them. 

The  Sioux  camp  was  very,  very  large.  It  had  more 
than  a  thousand  tepees  and  was  at  least  two  miles  long. 
If  General  Custer  could  have  seen  the  size  of  the  village, 
he  might  have  retreated  instead  of  attacking;  but  the 
bluffs  hid  it  so  that  he  saw  only  one  end,  so  he  decided 
to  attack. 

As  Ouster's  regiment  galloped  along,  they  could 
see  the  Indian  scouts,  like  tiny  dots,  running  off  through 


136  MONTANA:    AN  HISTORICAL  READER 

the  country  for  reinforcements.  For  the  attack,  he 
divided  his  men  into  three  companies:  one,  under 
Major  Reno,  was  to  attack  the  southern  end  of  the 
village;  Major  Benteen  was  to  go  straight  ahead; 
and  Custer  himself  attacked  the  northern  end. 

The  Indians  attacked  Major  Reno  first,  and  he 
dismounted  his  men  to  fight.  They  lost  time  in  that 
way  and  the  Indians  were  swarming  around  them 
like  bees,  when  suddenly  he  gave  the  order,  "  Mount, 
and  get  to  the  bluffs!"  The  mounting  cost  more  time. 
Reno  himself  led  the  retreat,  and  nearly  every  man 
killed  in  his  command  was  killed  while  running  away. 
When  the  Indians  saw  the  retreat,  they  did  not  follow 
him  closely,  because  they  knew  he  could  not  escape 
from  the  bluffs.  Major  Benteen  went  ahead  as  or- 
dered, but  he  found  no  Indians,  and  hearing  the  firing 
from  Major  Reno,  joined  him  and  retreated  also  to 
the  bluffs.  That  left  General  Custer  with  only  250 
men  to  face  nearly  5,000  Indians. 

When  General  Custer  saw  the  number  of  Indians 
he  had  to  face,  he  sent  a  scout  to  Major  Benteen: 
"Benteen,  come  on,  big  village,  be  quick,  bring  packs." 


INDIAN  BATTLES  137 

By  "packs"  he  meant  the  pack-train  which  had  all 
the  extra  powder  and  bullets. 

You  know  how  that  dreadful  day  ended.  Reno 
and  Benteen  stayed  on  the  hill,  \vhile  every  man  in 
Custer's  command  died  fighting,  and  every  one  died 
with  his  face  to  the  foe.  What  could  Custer  with  250 
men  do  against  5,000  yelling,  whooping,  howling  In- 
dians, who  were  determined  to  kill  off  the  whites  and 
save  their  "story-land"?  What  could  he  do  against 
all  those  braves,  who  were  determined  to  have  white 
scalps  ? 

General  Custer  fought  so  bravely  that  the  Indians 
did  not  try  to  kill  him,  but  apparently  intended  to  hold 
him  as  a  prisoner.  Not  a  wound  was  on  him,  until 
with  all  his  command  dead  or  dying,  Custer  killed 
himself.  After  every  battle  Indians  always  cut  and 
scar  the  dead,  and  these  Indians  mutilated  every  body 
which  lay  on  that  battle  field,  except  Custer's.  His 
was  sacred  because  he  died  by  his  own  hand.  They 
did  not  even  scalp  him. 

The  Sioux  Indians  to-day,  when  they  talk  about 
Custer,  and  this  last  battle  of  hisr  call  him  the  "Even- 


138  MONTANA:    AN  HISTORICAL  READER 

ing  Star,"  the  "Morning  Light,"  and  other  beautiful 
names.  They  look  upon  him  almost  as  a  god  because 
he  was  so  brave. 

After  Ouster's  command  had  been  killed,  the 
Indians  turned  to  Reno's  men  on  the  bluffs.  They 
fired  at  them  from  five  o'clock  on  that  afternoon  of 
June  25  until  ten  o'clock  at  night.  Then  they  placed 
sentinels  around  the  men  cooped  up  on  the  bluffs, 
and  went  back  to  the  big  village. 

That  night  Major  Reno  and  Major  Benteen  with 
their  men,  prisoners  on  that  bluff,  without  food  or 
water,  heard  the  frantic  yells  of  joy,  the  beating  of  the 
tom-tom,  the  whooping  and  howling  of  the  Indians, 
as  all  through  that  hideous  night  they  danced  the 
scalp-dance.  The  whites  knew  well  enough  whose 
scalps  were  at  the  end  of  the  coup-sticks  --  the  scalps 
of  their  own  comrades,  the  men  who  had  tented  and 
slept  and  fought  with  them.  It  is  likely  that  each  man 
wondered  whether  his  scalp  might  not  be  at  the  end 
of  a  coup-stick  by  the  next  night. 

Early  next  morning  the  battle  began  again,  and 
the  soldiers  fought  desperately  all  day.  In  the  after- 


INDIAN  BATTLES  139 

noon,  the  firing  became  less.  They  wondered  if  it  was 
a  trick,  but  by  evening  the  Indians  were  running  away 
-  scouts  had  brought  word  that  more  white  soldiers 
were  coming.  The  Indians  had  lost  several  hundred 
warriors,  so  they  retreated. 

General  Terry  and  General  Gibbon  had  come 
down  the  river  in  time  to  save  Reno  and  Benteen,  but 
too  late  to  save  Custer.  The  next  day,  June  27, 
the  troops  formed  in  line  and  marched  to  the  Custer 
battle  field  to  bury  the  dead.  They  buried  them 
just  where  they  had  fallen,  and  if  you  look  at 
the  picture  of  the  cemetery  you  will  see  that  many  of 
the  graves  are  in  twos,  showing  that  the  men  had 
fought  and  died  side  by  side,  as  comrades  should. 

The  Indians  really  won  the  battle  of  the  Little  Big 
Horn;  yet  it  made  them  understand  the  power  of  the 
whites,  and  they  never  again  attempted  to  kill  off  the 
whites,  as  a  nation,  or  to  drive  them  out  of  their  coun- 
try. Soon  after  the  battle,  the  great  band  of  warriors 
broke  up  into  smaller  bands  and  they,  one  by  one, 
surrendered  to  the  Government  and  were  sent  back 
to  their  reservations.  Sitting  Bull  was  held  as  a 


140  MONTANA:    AN  HISTORICAL  READER 

prisoner  because  the  Government  feared  his  influence 
with  his  people. 

The  battle  of  the  Big  Hole  was  fought  in  Montana, 
in  August,  1877,  but  the  Indians  were  the  Nez  Perces, 
from  the  other  side  of  the  Bitter  Root  Mountains,  in 
what  is  now  Idaho.  These  redskins  came  over  the 
mountains,  killing  white  settlers  as  they  passed, 
evaded  some  soldiers  sent  to  watch  for  them  at  the  Lo 
Lo  Pass,  and  started  up  the  Bitter  Root  Valley. 

The  redskins  moved  slowly  up  the  valley,  plun- 
dering the  whites  here  and  there,  or  setting  fire  to  the 
cabins.  They  did  not  know  that  the  white  soldiers 
were  so  near,  and  they  had,  at  best,  a  great  contempt 
for  the  "walking  soldiers,"  because  to  an  Indian  a 
man  on  foot  is  a  very  poor  sort  of  creature. 

But  the  "walking  soldiers"  were  close  on  the  trail  of 
the  Nez  Perces,  and  they  were  very  clever  men,  if  they 
did  walk.  As  the  troops  pursued  the  Indians,  their 
scouts  crept  so  close  to  the  Nez  Perces'  camp  that  they 
could  hear  the  voices  of  the  warriors  and  the  sound  of 
chopping  as  the  squaws  cut  down  small  trees  for  lodge 
poles.  Yet  the  scouts  could  not  tell  how  large  the 


INDIAN  BATTLES  141 

Indian  camp  was  until  two  officers  climbed  a  tree 
and  were  almost  horrified  to  see  hundreds  of  ponies 
and  warriors  almost  underneath  them.  They  slipped 
down  out  of  that  dangerous  tree  very  quickly. 

That  night  the  soldiers  had  only  a  scanty  supper 
on  hardtack  and  pork.  No  fire  was  possible  for 
they  were  too  close  to  that  circle  of  tepees.  They 
hardly  dared  breathe  for  fear  of  seeing  an  Indian  rise 
out  of  the  bushes  around  them. 

At  ten  o'clock,  the  soldiers  began  their  silent  march 
in  the  darkness  along  the  winding  trail  toward  the 
camp.  They  marched  through  dense  groves  of  trees, 
through  jungles  of  underbrush,  up  hill  and  down,  and 
waded  through  the  cold  mountain  stream.  In  this 
way  they  travelled  five  miles,  until  they  reached  the 
tepees  on  the  Big  Hole  River.  As  they  neared  the 
camp,  they  passed  through  a  herd  of  ponies,  and  every 
soldier  cocked  his  gun  for  quick  us£  in  case  the  Indians 
became  alarmed  by  the  restlessness  of  the  horses. 

At  last  they  came  within  four  hundred  feet  of 
the  tepees  and  dropped  down  on  the  ground  to  wait 
for  dawn.  Their  teeth  chattered  with  cold,  and  many 


142  MONTANA:    AN  HISTORICAL  READER 

were  wet  through  from  wading;    but  their  overcoats  . 
and  blankets  were  five  miles  away. 

The  tepees  were  in  the  edge  of  the  valley,  close  to 
the  water.  Camp-fires  smouldered,  fed  by  wood 
which  the  squaws  threw  on  from  time  to  time  during 
the  night.  Hungry  Indian  dogs  were  barking,  and 
occasionally  the  neighing  of  a  pony  near-by  broke 
the  stillness.  If  the  Indians  had  been  on  guard,  there 
would  have  been  a  warrior  behind  every  tree;  but 
they  still  believed  the  "walking  soldiers"  were  far 
away. 

At  tw^o  o'clock  in  the  morning,  when  the  first  faint 
light  dawned  over  the  eastern  hills,  the  troops  crawled 
a  little  closer  to  the  tepees,  moving  as  silently  as  Indians. 
Suddenly  a  herder  came  out  of  his  tepee  to  look  after 
the  ponies.  The  soldiers  waited  until  he  was  within 
a  few  feet  of  them,  then  shot  him. 

That  was  the  signal.  In  an  instant  soldiers  were 
firing  into  the  tepees  and  the  Indians  were  panic- 
stricken.  The  braves  forgot  their  guns  and  fled  into 
the  underbrush.  Squaws  shrieked,  children  screamed, 
dogs  barked,  horses  neighed  and  broke  loose- 


MONUMENT  TO  CUSTER  AND  HIS  MEN 


INDIAN  BATTLES  143 

everything  was  in  an  uproar.  But  the  Indians  quickly 
recovered,  rushed  for  their  guns,  and  the  battle  began 
in  earnest. 

The  soldiers  first  tried  to  set  fire  to  the  lodges,  but 
the  canvas  ones  were  damp  from  the  heavy  dew,  while 
the  buffalo-skin  tepees  would  not  burn  at  all.  All  the 
Indians,  men,  women,  and  children,  were  fighting,  and 
there  were  four  hundred  braves,  while  General  Gibbon 
had  less  than  two  hundred  men.  When  the  Indians 
got  among  the  trees  and  into  the  brush  where  they 
could  not  be  seen,  while  the  whites  were  in  the  open,  it 
looked  as  if  the  troops  would  be  thoroughly  defeated. 

Beginning  at  two  o'clock  in  the  morning,  the  battle 
continued  straight  through  the  day.  The  Indians 
fought  like  demons,  and  the  squaws  were  as  dangerous 
enemies  as  the  braves.  General  Logan  shot  a  war- 
rior, but  his  squaw  snatched  the  revolver  from  the 
dead  Indian's  hand  and  shot  the  General  dead.  The 
Indians  captured  the  only  cannon  which  the  soldiers 
had,  hid  the  wheels  in  the  woods,  and  gained  all  the 
ammunition  —  two  thousand  rounds.  In  the  after- 
noon they  set  fire  to  the  long  grass  in  which  the  soldiers 


144  MONTANA:    AN  HISTORICAL  READER 

were  hidden  and  the  smoke  almost  suffocated  them. 
But  just  as  the  fire  reached  them  the  wind  shifted  and 
drove  it  back  from  the  soldiers.  At  this  lucky  turn 
the  troops  cheered  wildly. 

It  took  courage  to  give  that  cheer.  The  men  had 
had  no  food  and  no  sleep.  After  a  night  and  a  day  of 
fighting,  the  battle  was  going  against  them.  They 
were  almost  sure  of  being  defeated,  and  it  was  a  fight 
for  their  lives;  for  the  Indians  were  well  hidden  and 
the  soldiers  could  only  aim  at  the  little  white  puffs  of 
smoke  which  came  from  the  brush.  The  Indians,  on 
the  other  hand,  knew  just  about  where  the  whites  were. 
So  the  battle  raged  until  late  in  the  afternoon,  when 
suddenly  the  Indians  stopped  firing  and  disappeared. 
That  alarmed  the  soldiers  more  than  ever,  for  they 
thought  it  was  some  trick.  Even  though  the  battle 
seemed  over,  they  dared  not  move.  But  it  was  not  a 
trick.  The  Nez  Perces  had  captured  a  white  man, 
who  told  them  that  another  general  with  more  "walk- 
ing soldiers"  was  coming  up  the  valley,  and  the  Indians 
had  already  lost  so  many  warriors,  besides  their  tepees 
and  all  their  possessions,  that  they  ran  away. 


INDIAN   BATTLES  145 

General  Gibbon,  who  led  this  fight,  had  only  one 
hundred  and  forty-six  soldiers,  fifteen  officers,  and 
thirty-four  white  settlers  who  had  joined  him.  He  had 
had  to  travel  over  two  hundred  and  fifty  miles  on  the 
trail  of  those  Indians,  and  then  had  to  fight  a  night  and 
a  day  without  food  or  rest.  The  "  walking  soldiers  " 
had  fought  well  and  aimed  well,  for  after  the  battle  was 
over  they  found  the  bodies  of  eighty-nine  dead  Indians. 
Other  braves  who  had  been  killed  or  wounded  had 
been  carried  off  by  the  Indians  in  their  flight. 

In  its  results  this  battle  was  entirely  different 
from  that  of  Ouster's  last  fight  on  the  Little  Big  Horn. 
Custer  and  his  men  were  defeated  and  every  man 
killed,  yet  that  fight  showed  the  Indians  that  the  whites 
were  just  as  brave  as  they,  and  would  not  be  driven 
out  of  their  country.  The  daring  of  Custer  probably 
saved  a  general  massacre  and  many  other  battles. 
But  the  battle  of  the  Big  Hole,  although  the  whites 
were  victorious,  did  not  teach  the  Indians  such  a  thor- 
ough lesson.  It  simply  protected  the  settlers  in  the 
Bitter  Root  Valley  and  prevented  a  massacre  that  had 
seemed  almost  certain. 


CHAPTER  XI 

INDIAN  BELIEFS   AND   LEGENDS 

\\  7HO  created  the  world,  and  how  did  he  happen 
to  do  it?  That  is  what  the  Indians  often  won- 
dered. They  talked  of  it  around  the  camp-fire,  one 
generation  after  another,  until  finally  in  the  course  of 
a  great  many  years,  they  came  to  have  a  regular  ex- 
planation of  the  creation  of  the  world.  Yet  different 
tribes  had  different  explanations.  The  Blackfeet 
explained  it  in  one  way,  and  the  Crows  in  another. 

The  Blackfeet  say  the  world  was  created  in  this 
way: 

In  the  beginning  all  the  land  was  covered  with 
water,  and  all  the  animals  were  floating  around  with 
Old  Man  on  a  large  raft.  ("  Old  Man"  is  the  Black- 
foot  name  for  the  Great  Spirit.)  One  day  Old  Man 
told  the  beaver  to  dive  into  the  water  and  bring  up  a 
little  mud.  Down  jumped  the  beaver  off  the  raft  and 
with  a  big  splash  he  disappeared.  He  was  gone  a 

long  time,  but  finally  came  back  and  said  he  could  not 

146 


INDIAN  BELIEFS  AND   LEGENDS  147 

reach  bottom.  The  land  was  too  far  down  under  the 
water.  Then  Old  Man  sent  the  loon  down.  The 
loon  also  came  back  without  any  mud.  Then  the 
otter  tried  it,  but  after  he  had  been  gone  a  very  long 
time,  he  came  back  and  said  the  water  was  too  deep. 

Old  Man  was  rather  disgusted  because  he  was 
tired  of  that  raft  with  all  the  animals  jostling  each 
other  on  it.  Finally  he  sent  the  muskrat  down.  The 
muskrat  splashed  into  the  water  and  went  down, 
down,  down,  until  he  thought  he  must  have  gone 
through  all  the  water  there  ever  was.  But  still  he 
could  n't  find  any  mud.  So  he  went  still  farther 
down,  down,  down!  Old  Man  and  the  animals  on 
the  raft  waited  and  waited  and  waited.  Finally, 
when  the  muskrat  had  been  gone  a  long,  long  while, 
and  they  had  decided  he  was  drowned,  they  were 
surprised  to  see  him  come  to  the  surface.  He  was  so 
tired  he  could  n't  swim,  and  at  first  they  thought  he 
was  dead.  But  they  grabbed  hold  of  him,  one  catch- 
ing his  tail  and  another  his  foot,  and  pulled  him  onto 
the  raft.  The  animals  were  all  disappointed  at  first, 
and  Old  Man  too,  because  they  thought  he  had  failed; 


148  MONTANA:   AN  HISTORICAL  READER 

but  at  last,  in  one  paw,  they  found  a  tiny  little  bit  of 
mud.  Old  Man  took  this  mud  and  made  the  world 
out  of  it.  Afterwards  he  made  all  the  people. 

The  Crows  say  the  world  was  created  in  this  way: 

Long  ago  the  earth  was  very  small,  and  all  around 
it  was  water.  One  day  as  the  Great  Spirit  was  walk- 
ing around,  he  took  some  earth  and  threw  it  into  the 
water.  The  earth  became  a  Crow  Indian,  who  stepped 
out  of  the  water  onto  the  dry  land.  But  his  eyes  were 
closed  and  his  mouth  shut  until  the  Great  Spirit 
opened  them. 

Then  the  Great  Spirit  called  a  bird  to  him.  When 
it  came,  he  threw  it  into  the  water.  When  the  bird 
came  back  after  a  little  while,  she  flew  up  to  the  Great 
Spirit  with  sand  in  her  beak.  He  took  this  sand,  and 
when  he  blew  it  off  the  palm  of  his  hand,  the  earth 
became  very  much  bigger.  Afterwards  the  Great 
Spirit  made  the  buffalo,  the  elk,  and  the  antelope, 
that  this  new  man  might  have  food. 

But  this  Crow  Indian  was  very  lonely.  He  had 
no  one  with  whom  he  could  talk.  At  last  he  was  so 
lonely  that  the  Great  Spirit  threw  more  earth  into 


INDIAN  BELIEFS  AND  LEGENDS  149 

the  water  and  there  came  up  more  Crows,  both  men 
and  women.  These  new  people  were  very  happy. 
They  lived  very  far  from  white  men  and  had  no  enemies. 
They  had  only  one  trouble.  They  had  no  fire.  They 
had  to  put  a  stick  between  two  other  sticks  and 
rub  it  around  and  around  and  around  until  there 
was  a  spark.  It  was  hard  work  and  it  made  them 
tired. 

Afterwards  the  Great  Spirit  threw  more  earth  into 
the  water,  and  a  great  many  more  men  and  women 
stepped  out  on  dry  land.  These  were  the  Flat- 
heads,  the  Sioux,  the  Piegans,  and  the  Assiniboin 
Indians,  and  the  Great  Spirit  placed  them  all  around 
the  Crow  Indians.  But  he  put  the  Crows  in  the  middle 
of  the  earth  because  they  were  the  best  Indians.  The 
Crows  used  to  fight  with  the  other  Indians.  Then 
the  white  men  came  and  traded  knives  and  guns  for 
buffalo  robes. 

That  is  the  way  Iron  Bull,  a  Crow  chief,  told  the 
story  of  the  creation  of  the  world. 

The  Flatheads  think  the  road  to  paradise  is  through 
the  stars.  When  you  look  up  at  the  sky  on  a  clear 


150  MONTANA:    AN  HISTORICAL  READER 

night,  you  see  a  long  white  ribbon  of  stars  called  the 
Milky  Way.  This  is  the  Flatheads'  road  to  heaven. 
All  good  Indians  go  to  this  heaven,  where  it  is  always 
summer  time.  A  brave  finds  all  his  favorite  horses 
there,  and  his  squaws.  His  tepee  is  very  large  and 
comfortable,  there  is  always  plenty  to  eat,  and  he  has 
nothing  to  do  but  to  hunt  among  the  great  herds  of 
buffaloes  and  be  happy.  Bad  Flatheads  go  to  a  coun- 
try underneath  the  earth,  where  it  is  always  winter. 
These  bad  Indians  never  have  enough  to  eat,  their 
tepees  are  always  cold,  there  is  always  snow  and  ice 
around  them.  They  can  see  cozy  fires  and  herds  of 
buffaloes  in  the  distance,  but  they  can  never  reach 
them.  Always  they  are  cold  and  hungry. 

The  Blackfeet  never  say  that  a  warrior  is  dead. 
They  say  that  his  shadow  has  gone  to  the  Sand  Hills. 
A  man's  shadow  is  his  soul,  they  say.  When  a  brave 
goes  to  the  Sand  Hills,  his  favorite  horse  is  killed  at 
his  grave  so  that  he  may  ride  there.  It  is  a  great  dis- 
grace for  a  warrior  to  walk  anywhere.  In  his  grave, 
also,  are  placed  all  his  best  clothing,  his  war-bonnet, 
his  tomahawk,  and  his  war-club,  so  that  the  shadow 


INDIAN  BELIEFS  AND   LEGENDS  151 

may  wear  them.  In  the  Sand  Hills  he  will  find  all  the 
animals  he  has  ever  killed,  all  the  horses  he  has  ever 
stolen,  and  all  his  squaws.  Bad  Blackfeet  cannot 
go  to  the  Sand  Hills.  They  must  stay  around  the 
place  where  they  died,  and  are  always  unhappy. 

The  Assiniboins,  the  Sioux,  and  sometimes  the 
Blackfeet  placed  their  dead  on  high  platforms  where 
wild  animals  could  not  reach  them.  In  the  moun- 
tains, bodies  were  strapped  into  the  crotch  of  a  tree. 
Out  on  the  treeless  plains,  however,  they  built  the 
platforms. 

Any  one  especially  honored,  such  as  a  chief,  a 
chief's  favorite  daughter,  or  perhaps  a  medicine  man, 
was  buried  in  a  tepee  grave.  These  tepees  were  made 
of  fresh,  beautifully  whitened  skins,  and  the  dead 
person  was  laid  on  buffalo  robes  and  covered  just  as 
though  asleep.  Food  was  put  at  his  side,  all  his  orna- 
ments, necklaces,  and  beaded  clothes  were  carefully 
laid  on  buffalo  robes  and  then  the  tepee  was  fastened 
shut.  The  sides  were  pegged  down  so  that  the  wind 
could  not  blow  it  over.  The  tribe  then  moved  away, 
leaving  this  single  wrhite  tepee  standing  alone  on  the 


152  MONTANA:   AN  HISTORICAL  READER 

plains.  No  enemy  would  dare  to  touch  it  for  fear  the 
Great  Spirit  would  punish  him. 

All  Indians  have  a  vague  idea  of  some  great  Being, 
whom  they  call  by  different  names.  With  some  it  is 
"  Manitou,"  or  "  Great  Spirit,"  but  with  the  Blackfeet 
it  was  "Old  Man."  Yet  the  Blackfeet  tell  a  great 
many  stories  about  Old  Man  which  show  that  he  was  a 
queer  kind  of  a  god,  since  he  played  so  many  tricks 
upon  people.  The  Blackfeet  and  nearly  all  other 
Indians  really  worshipped  the  sun.  They  knew  they 
could  not  live  without  the  light  and  the  heat  of  the 
sun.  Grass  would  not  grow,  and  buffaloes  could  not 
live  without  sunshine  and  warmth. 

Whenever  Indians  light  the  calumet,  the  pipe  of 
peace,  or  when  they  first  light  the  "medicine  pipe" 
at  a  great  council,  they  offer  it  to  the  four  points  of  the 
compass -- north,  south,  east,  and  west,  and  to  the 
sky  and  the  earth,  before  they  smoke  it.  They  have 
great  respect  for  the  earth  because  all  the  green  things 
grow  out  of  it. 

During  an  eclipse  Indians  are  greatly  frightened. 
They  believe  some  great  animal  is  trying  to  swallow 


INDIAN  BELIEFS  AND  LEGENDS  153 

the  sun.  Dressed  in  war-paint  and  war-bonnets,  they 
rush  out  of  their  tepees,  shoot  off  their  arrows  and 
guns  and  keep  up  a  constant  whooping  and  yelling 
until  they  drive  the  dreadful  animal  away,  and  the 
sun  shines  clear  and  warm  again. 

The  skin  of  a  white  buffalo  was  sacred  to  the  sun. 
Whenever  a  white  buffalo  was  seen  in  the  herd,  the 
whole  tribe  made  every  effort  to  kill  it.  The  skin 
was  dressed  with  the  greatest  care,  so  it  was  unusually 
soft  and  smooth.  Then  it  was  given  to  the  sun,  and 
no  man  could  use  it.  Traders  could  not  buy  such  a 
robe,  because  it  belonged  to  the  tribe  and  was  sacred. 
Any  man  who  stole  it  or  sold  it  would,  if  caught,  pay 
for  it  with  his  life. 

"Medicine"  to  an  Indian  is  anything  he  does  not 
understand.  The  fire-canoes  and  fire-wagons  were 
big  medicine,  and  a  cannon  was  very  bad  medicine. 
A  piece  of  machinery,  even  a  queer  stone,  was  medicine. 

When  Father  De  Smet,  one  of  the  early  mission- 
aries in  Montana,  visited  a  Blackfoot  chief,  he  gave 
him  some  mysterious  fire.  The  chief  was  so  pleased 
that  he  was  always  afterwards  the  friend  of  the  priest. 


154  MONTANA:    AN  HISTORICAL  READER 

Two  years  afterwards  he  visited  the  priest  and  said 
his  medicine  was  all  gone.  It  had  worked  well,  he 
said.  Whenever  he  was  going  into  battle  he  would 
scratch  on  a  stone  some  of  the  little  sticks  which  the 
priest  had  given  him.  If  the  mysterious  fire  ap- 
peared, he  knew  he  would  take  many  scalps.  But 
now  his  medicine  was  all  gone  and  he  was  afraid  to 
go  into  battle  without  it.  Then  he  opened  his  med- 
icine bag  and  showed  Father  De  Smet  -  -  what  do 
you  think?  A  lot  of  burned-out  matches. 

All  Indians  are  afraid  of  thunder.  When  the  first 
rumbling  peal  comes  in  the  Spring,  the  Assiniboins 
say  it  is  the  voice  of  the  Great  Spirit.  They  offer  it 
sacrifices,  such  as  tobacco  and  the  best  pieces  of 
buffalo  meat. 

The  Sioux  Indians  say  that  thunder  is  an  enormous 
bird  and  that  the  sound  is  the  flapping  of  its  wings. 
The  old  thunder  is  such  a  wise  bird  that  he  never  kills 
anyone  — all  the  harm  is  done  by  the  little  thunder- 
birds.  Indians  think  it  is  the  thunder  which  kills, 
not  the  lightning.  Lightning  is  the  flashing  of  the 
thunder-bird's  eyes. 


INDIAN  BELIEFS  AND  LEGENDS  155 

Every  tribe  has  some  "totem";  that  is,  an  animal 
regarded  as  sacred.  This  is  quite  different  from  a 
totem  pole.  Many  of  the  North  American  Indians 
never  heard  of  a  totem  pole,  which  is  really  the  his- 
tory of  the  intermarriages  of  tribes.  But  all  tribes 
had  a  totem,  a  sacred  animal,  which  was  selected  for 
some  quality  which  they  admired.  If  a  bear,  for 
instance,  is  the  totem  of  a  tribe,  it  is  too  sacred  to  be 
killed  unless  the  tribe  is  starving.  Then  they  will 
kill  and  eat  it,  but  only  after  they  have  made  it  a  short 
prayer,  saying  how  hungry  they  are  and  asking  the 
bear  to  forgive  them. 

The  beaver  was  the  totem  of  the  Flatheads.  They 
tell  this  story  about  the  industrious  little  animals: 

The  beavers  and  porcupines  are  brothers,  and  in 
olden  days  they  used  to  live  together.  They  were  not 
very  comfortable,  though,  because  the  beavers  were 
always  busy  and  the  porcupines  were  lazy.  Besides, 
the  porcupines  disliked  the  water,  and  the  beavers 
almost  lived  in  it.  So  the  beavers  decided  to  get  rid 
of  their  brothers.  One  fine  day  the  beavers  an- 
nounced it  was  so  beautiful  they  did  not  want  to  work, 


156  MONTANA:    AN  HISTORICAL  READER 

and  they  invited  the  porcupines  to  take  a  walk  with 
them.  So  they  all  went  on  a  long  tramp  until  they 
came  to  a  great  many  cedar  trees  and  juniper  bushes. 
The  porcupines  were  hungry  after  that  tramp,  and 
they  were  so  greedy  in  eating  the  buds  and  berries, 
that  they  were  soon  fast  asleep.  Then  the  beavers 
stole  quietly  away  and  left  them  forever.  Now  the 
beavers  work  just  as  hard  as  they  please  because  there 
are  no  brothers  to  bother  them. 

Flatheads  say  that  the  beavers  used  to  be  Indians, 
but  that  they  were  very  bad,  and  as  punishment  the 
Great  Spirit  changed  them  into  animals.  But  because 
they  work  so  hard,  some  day  they  will  be  made  Indians 
again. 

The  Blackfeet  say  that  cold  and  snow  are  brought 
in  by  the  Cold  Maker,  a  white  man,  with  white  hair, 
dressed  in  white,  and  riding  a  white  horse.  As  the 
Cold  Maker  rides  around  the  country  he  carries  the 
storm  with  him. 

Indians  believe  their  dreams.  They  think  that 
when  they  dream  their  soul  travels,  and  when  they 
awaken  they  must  do  what  their  soul  directs.  One 


Photo,  by  8.  W.  Matteson. 

BELLS  AND  BEADS 

Dancing  costume  of  an  Assiniboin  on  the  Fort  Belknap  reservation 


INDIAN  BELIEFS  AND   LEGENDS  157 

squaw  dreamed  she  was  dressed  in  men's  clothes 
and  killed  a  deer.  The  next  morning  she  dressed 
herself  in  that  way,  took  her  husband's  bow  and 
arrows,  and  really  did  kill  a  deer.  So  she  kept  on  wear- 
ing men's  clothing,  and  the  tribe  thought  it  was  all 
right  for  her  to  do  so,  until  she  had  another  dream 
that  told  her  to  wear  her  own  clothes  again.  White 
men  have  sometimes  saved  their  lives  when  among 
Indians  who  were  not  friendly  by  making  up  some 
long  story  and  telling  it  as  a  dream. 


CHAPTER  XII 

HOW   THE   INDIANS   LIVED 

TF  you  were  a  little  Indian  boy  who  wanted  to  be 
warm  in  winter,  what  would  you  wear  ?  A  buffalo 
robe,  with  the  hair  on.  If  you  wanted  a  cooler  dress 
in  summer,  what  would  you  wear?  A  buffalo  robe 
with  the  hair  off.  If  you  were  hungry,  what  would 
your  food  be?  Buffalo  meat,  and  perhaps  some 
roots.  If  you  were  a  Blackfoot  boy  and  wanted  to 
coast  down  hill  in  winter,  what  sled  would  you  use  ? 
Buffalo  ribs.  If  your  sister  was  told  to  get  a  bucket 
of  water,  in  what  would  she  carry  it  ?  In  a  pail  made 
of  buffalo  hide.  The  odd  thing  about  that  pail,  too, 
was  that  after  water  had  stood  in  it  a  while  it  would 
become  so  soft  that  the  sides  w^ould  fall  in  and  the 
water  spill  out.  Water-pails  had  to  be  hung  up  on 
trees,  or  on  the  lodge  pole,  just  as  the  babies  were. 

It  was  buffalo,  buffalo,  buffalo  everywhere.     The 
great  herds  made  the  green  plains  seem  brown.      One 

herd  is   known   to  have  covered  a  stretch  of   country 

158 


HOW  THE  INDIANS  LIVED  159 

seventy  miles  long  and  thirty  miles  wide.  Army  men 
travelling  through  Kansas  were  three  days  in  passing 
through  another  great  herd.  Even  so  late  as  1869,  a 
train  in  Kansas  was  stopped  for  nine  hours  waiting 
for  a  herd  of  buffaloes  to  cross  the  track.  It  was 
buffalo,  buffalo,  buffalo  everywhere.  And  so  long 
as  the  Indians  had  their  ponies  and  their  buffaloes, 
they  were  perfectly  happy.  Buffaloes  supplied  an 
Indian's  every  need. 

Indians  ate  the  flesh  of  the  buffalo,  their  beds  were 
simply  buffalo  robes,  and  their  blankets -- whether 
for  dress  or  for  sleeping -- were  other  robes.  The 
tepees  in  which  they  lived  were  buffalo  hides,  some- 
times decorated  with  strange  pictures  of  warriors, 
horses,  and  buffaloes.  Strong  buffalo  hides  furnished 
the  coverings  for  their  bull-boats  and  their  heavy  war- 
shields.  Their  moccasins,  saddle  blankets,  and  har- 
ness were  all  made  from  strong  hides.  Buffalo  sinews 
were  used  as  thread  and  as  string,  and  when  a  heavier 
rope  was  wanted  for  a  lasso  or  a  tether  or  for  fastening 
lodge  poles  together  braided  strips  of  buffalo  hide 
were  used. 


160  MONTANA:    AN  HISTORICAL  READER 

From  the  hoofs  of  the  buffalo,  Indians  made  a  glue 
with  which  they  fastened  the  heads  and  feathers  on 
their  arrows.  Pieces  of  buffalo  ribs,  broken  off  short, 
were  used  for  scraping  hides  while  they  were  being 
dressed  and  tanned.  The  ribs  were  also  used  by  boys 
as  sleds  for  coasting  down  hill,  and  as  runners  for  the 
travois*  which  were  drawn  by  dogs  or  ponies. 

Other  uses  were  made  of  the  buffalo.  Before 
the  whites  came,  very  few  tribes  had  any  earthen- 
ware dishes  or  metal  pots  in  which  to  cook  their  food. 
One  or  two  tribes  had  found  that  clay  could  be  shaped 
and  then  baked  hard  in  the  fire,  but  many  tribes  used 
only  buffalo  skins.  Cups,  pans,  and  dishes  of  every 
sort  were  made  from  pieces  of  hide  stretched  over 
hoops  of  willow  at  the  top  and  bottom.  Nothing  hot 
and  nothing  liquid  could  stay  jfor  any  length  of  time 
in  such  dishes,  because  they  would  become  soft. 
Spoons  of  a  rough  sort  and  little  plate-like  dishes  were 
occasionally  made  out  of  buffalo  horns.  A  horn  was 
cut  lengthwise  and  heated  until  it  was  flexible  enough 
to  bend. 

*  Pronounced  Trav-woi. 


Photo,  by  M,  J.  El  rod. 

A  FLATHEAD  AND  A  BLACKFOOT  BOY 

In  dancing  costume  on  the  Flathead  reservation 


HOW  THE  INDIANS  LIVED  161 

When  meat  was  to  be  boiled,  a  squaw  would  do  it 
in  this  way:  She  first  dug  a  hole  in  the  ground,  and 
lined  it  with  a  big  piece  of  skin,  with  the  fur  side  down. 
The  edges  of  the  hide  spread  out  on  the  level  ground 
around  the  hole,  and  were  held  down  by  stones.  This 
hide  was  filled  with  cold  water,  the  meat  put  in,  and 
then  red-hot  stones  which  she  had  heated  at  a  camp- 
fire  were  dropped  in.  The  stones  heated  the  water 
until  it  was  boiling,  and  gradually  the  meat  was  cooked. 
This  method  was  used  especially  by  the  Assiniboins. 
The  word  Assiniboin  means  "one  who  cooks  with 
stone,"  a  "  stone-boiler." 

Even  the  matter  of  building  a  fire  was  not  easy  for 
Indians.  Before  they  knew  anything  about  white 
men's  ways,  their  only  way  was  to  rub  sticks  together 
until  the  friction  struck  out  a  spark.  This  was  so 
hard  to  do,  especially  in  damp  weather,  that  they  tried 
not  to  let  their  fires  go  out,  and  when  they  moved 
camp,  they  saved  a  piece  of  burning  wood. 

The  Blackfeet  used  a  fire  horn  —  a  buffalo  horn  - 
which  was  filled  with  moist,  rotten  wood.     When  they 
broke  camp,  the  man  in  charge  of  the  fire  horn  put  in 


162  MONTANA:   AN  HISTORICAL  READER 

a  red-hot  coal,  covering  that  with  a  piece  of  punk,  and 
plugged  up  the  open  end  with  a  piece  of  wood.  Every 
two  or  three  hours  he  opened  the  horn,  put  in  more 
punk,  and  kept  the  coal  burning  until  the  new  camp 
was  made.  The  first  fire  was  lighted  with  this  coal 
and  the  other  fires  lighted  from  that. 

Fires  were  used  in  a  queer  way  for  cooking  roots. 
Indians  depended  largely  for  vegetables  upon  camas 
root,  bitter  root,  and  sometimes,  especially  when 
food  was  scarce,  upon  the  roots  of  water  plants  or  even 
thistles.  Camas  roots  were  cooked  in  holes  in  the 
ground.  After  a  hole  was  scooped  out,  a  hot  fire  was 
built,  into  which  plenty  of  stones  were  dropped,  and 
the  fire  was  kept  up  until  they  were  red-hot.  Then 
the  charred  sticks  and  ashes  were  cleaned  out,  leaving 
only  the  hot  stones  in  the  bottom.  Camas  roots  were 
packed  into  the  hollow,  covered  over  with  twigs  and 
grass,  with  earth  over  them.  On  top  of  this  earth 
a  hot  fire  was  built  and  kept  burning  for  two  or  three 
days.  Then  the  hole  was  opened,  the  roots  spread 
out  to  dry,  pounded  into  bits,  and  sometimes  kept  for 
months.  Children  liked  to  gather  around  this  crude 


HOW  THE  INDIANS  LIVED  163 

oven  when  it  was  opened  to  suck  the  sweet  juice  from 
the  twigs. 

The  bitter  root  was  a  favorite  vegetable  with  the 
Flatheads.  It  gave  its  name  to  a  great  range  of  moun- 
tains and  to  a  valley,  and  is  now  the  State  flower  of 
Montana.  It  has  a  beautiful  pink  flower  early  in  the 
Spring,  but  when  the  Indians  dig  it  for  food  it  is  only 
a  slender  little  brown  root,  an  inch  or  two  long.  It  is 
quite  bitter,  and  the  early  trappers  and  traders  never 
learned  to  like  it. 

If  you  were  an  Indian  boy  you  would  never  have 
any  work  to  do.  Of  course  there  was  no  school,  and 
there  was  no  Sunday.  All  that  the  boys  in  any  camp 
had  to  do  was  to  play,  and  most  of  their  play  was  mak- 
ing believe  they  were  warriors.  They  hunted  rabbits 
and  squirrels  with  their  bows  and  arrows,  and  grew 
to  be  expert  shots.  They  early  learned  to  be  cruel, 
and  any  squirrel  or  rabbit  which  they  captured  was 
sure  to  be  tortured  to  death. 

Indian  boys  were  never  severely  punished,  yet  they 
had  to  behave.  If  they  persisted  in  talking  too  much 
when  braves  were  in  the  tepee,  two  or  three  would  be 


164  MONTANA:    AN  HISTORICAL  READER 

rapped  on  the  head  with  a  stick.  If  they  forgot  to  keep 
the  fire  up,  a  brave  would  call  out,  "Look  out  for  the 
skunk!"  and  if  wood  were  not  put  on  the  fire  very 
quickly,  a  stick  of  it  would  be  thrown  at  the  children. 
But  Indian  boys  had  a  thoroughly  good  time.  Their 
life  was  all  play. 

Boys  soon  learned  to  know  the  tracks  of  the  different 
animals,  and  to  know  how  fresh  they  were.  They 
learned,  also,  to  cover  their  own  tracks  in  true  Indian 
fashion,  so  that  in  passing  they  left  no  trails.  They 
learned  all  the  Indian  signs;  the  meaning  of  a  broken 
twig,  the  number  of  braves  in  a  passing  band,  whether 
it  was  a  hunting  party  or  a  war  party,  and  whether  they 
were  friends  or  foes.  All  this  they  learned  to  tell  from 
the  footprints  on  the  trail. 

Every  Indian  boy  knew  that  he  must  be  brave  or  he 
would  be  disgraced.  A  man  who  ran  away  in  battle 
or  who  showed  fear  brought  disgrace  upon  his  wrhole 
tribe.  He  had  to  wear  women's  clothes  and  do  the 
work  of  a  squaw  around  the  camp.  He  was  never 
allowed  to  go  hunting,  to  go  on  the  warpath,  or  to  act 
as  if  he  were  a  man  at  all. 


HOW  THE  INDIANS  LIVED  165 

Every  Indian  boy  wanted  to  have  a  * '  strong  heart," 
that  is,  to  be  brave  and  earn  the  right  to  wear  eagle 
feathers.  Boys  almost  held  their  breath  when,  in  the 
Spring,  the  young  braves  counted  their  coups.*  Coup 
is  a  French  word  which  means  a  blow.  Every  Indian 
carried  a  coup-stick  into  battle  with  him,  and  if  he 
first  struck  an  enemy  with  his  coup-stick  he  could 
claim  the  scalp,  even  if  another  brave  had  killed  this 
enemy.  You  can  understand  why.  An  Indian  could 
kill  his  enemy  at  a  distance  with  bow  and  arrow,  or 
with  a  gun,  and  he  could  do  this  while  concealed  be- 
hind a  tree  where  he  was  perfectly  safe;  but  it  took 
more  courage  to  get  so  near  an  enemy  that  he  could 
be  struck  with  a  stick  held  in  the  hand.  So  a  man 
who  could  count  many  coups  was  considered  very 
brave.  The  stealing  of  horses  also  counted  as  a  coup. 

When  a  young  warrior  counted  his  coups,  he  began 
by  taking  up  a  bundle  of  sticks.  Every  time  he  told 
of  some  deed  of  bravery  he  threw  away  a  stick,  until 
all  were  thrown  away.  Perhaps  he  would  tell  of  his 
bravery  in  attacking  a  party  of  trappers  in  the  moun- 

*  Pronounced  coo. 


166  MONTANA:    AN  HISTORICAL  READER 

tains,  or  of  stealing  the  best  horses  from  another  tribe. 
To  the  boys  this  counting  of  the  coups  was  very  ex- 
citing, and  every  one  of  them  wanted  to  grow  up, 
right  away,  so  he  could  be  brave  and  be  an  honor  to 
his  tribe,  and  wear  eagle  feathers  in  his  hair. 

Every  eagle  feather  meant  a  scalp.  A  brave  In- 
dian could  win  enough  honors  to  wear  a  war-bonnet 
and  have  a  long  string  of  feathers,  fastened  on  a  buck- 
skin thong,  hanging  down  his  back. 

How  do  you  think  Indians  secured  the  feathers? 
Eagles  were  hard  to  kill  in  the  days  when  only  bows 
and  arrows  could  be  used,  because  the  great  birds 
fly  so  high.  They  had  to  be  trapped. 

An  eagle-hunter  would  dig  a  pit,  very  quietly, 
near  a  group  of  birds.  Its  walls  would  be  a  little 
higher  than  his  head;  it  would  be  three  or  four  feet 
long,  and  just  wide  enough  to  permit  him  to  move 
in  it.  It  was  roofed  with  grass  and  twigs. 

Just  before  daylight  some  morning,  when  all  was 
ready,  he  would  climb  down  into  the  pit,  leaving  a 
piece  of  bloody  buffalo  meat  tied  to  a  rope,  just  outside. 
The  first  eagle  which  saw  the  meat  would  fly  down  for 


HOW  THE  INDIANS  LIVED  167 

it.  Of  course  the  Indian  held  tight  to  the  rope  when 
the  bird  tried  to  carry  off  its  feast,  until  finally  the 
eagle  would  begin  to  eat  where  it  was.  Then, 
while  it  was  busy  eating,  the  Indian  slipped  his  hand 
through  the  roof,  caught  the  bird  by  the  feet,  dragged 
it  into  the  pit,  and  wrung  its  neck.  The  pit  was  so 
small  the  eagle  could  not  use  its  powerful  wings,  so 
the  hunter  was  in  little  danger.  Still,  a  successful 
eagle-hunter  was  a  much  respected  man. 

Indian  boys  had  such  a  good  time,  just  being  boys! 
When  they  grew  to  be  warriors,  they  still  had  a  good 
time  so  far  as  work  was  concerned.  When  the  braves 
were  not  hunting  buffaloes  or  on  the  warpath,  they 
did  nothing  but  smoke,  gamble,  and  give  feasts.  If  a 
large  herd  of  buffaloes  was  near-by  so  that  meat  was 
plentiful,  a  warrior  would  give  as  many  as  three  feasts 
a  day.  His  squaws  cooked  the  best  meat,  and  when 
it  was  ready  he  stepped  outside  his  tepee  and  shouted 
three  times  the  names  of  the  braves  invited.  .After 
eating,  smoking,  and  gambling,  they  would  start  off 
for  another  feast.  An  Indian  could  eat  three  or  four 
times  as  much  as  a  hungry  white  man.  The  squaws 


168  MONTANA:   AN  HISTORICAL  READER 

waited  on  the  braves  and  ate  whatever  scraps  might 
be  left. 

If  you  were  a  little  Indian  girl  you  would  not  have 
so  good  a  time.  There  was  no  school,  but  you  would 
have  to  help  in  so  many  ways.  There  was  firewood 
to  be  picked  up,  water  to  be  brought  from  the  spring 
or  the  creek  in  the  buffalo-hide  pails,  and  there  was 
nearly  always  a  little  papoose  to  be  taken  care  of, 
although  Indian  babies  were  strapped  into  queer  little 
cradles  with  a  stiff  board  back  and  hung  up  out  of  the 
way  on  the  branch  of  a  tree  or  out  of  the  sun,  on  a 
tepee  pole.  You  would  have  to  help  in  jerking  meat, 
in  making  pemmican,  in  dressing  the  buffalo  skins 
brought  in,  in  making  moccasins  and  in  beading  them, 
in  cooking  for  the  feasts,  and  in  all  the  hard  work  of 
the  camp,  because  the  women  had  all  the  work  to  do. 

The  hardest  work  came  when  the  Indians  moved 
their  camp.  Then  all  the  robes  and  belongings  had 
to  be  packed  up,  the  tepee  taken  down,  the  lodge  poles 
bundled  together  and  packed  on  ponies;  and  away 
the  tribe  went,  over  the  hills  or  the  plains,  to  some 
point  where  there  were  herds  of  deer  or  buffaloes  and 


Photo,  by  M.  J,  ElrocU 

A  MONTH-OLD  PAPOOSE  IN  ITS  CRADLE 

Ready  to  be  hung  up  out  of  the  way  on  the  branch  of  a  tree  or  on  a  lodge-pole 
The  beading  is  very  beautiful 


HOW  THE  INDIANS  LIVED  169 

plenty  of  fresh  water.  Even  the  dogs  had  to  help  if 
a  brave  was  poor  and  owned  few  ponies. 

Dogs  had  to  draw  travois,  since  they  were  so  small 
that  not  much  could  be  packed  on  their  backs.  That 
is  another  French  word.  A  travois  was  made  of  three 
sticks.  Two  were  fastened  to  the  sides  of  a  dog,  or 
perhaps  a  pony,  like  the  shafts  of  a  wagon,  except  that 
the  ends  dragged  on  the  ground.  The  third  stick 
fastened  the  other  two  together  so  that  they  could  not 
spread  apart.  A  pony  travois  could  carry  heavy 
articles,  and  even  a  person.  On  the  dog  travois  were 
packed  many  small  articles  and  sometimes  a  papoose, 
although  that  was  a  little  dangerous.  At  one  time, 
when  a  Blackfoot  camp  was  moving,  it  stampeded  a 
herd  of  buffaloes.  The  buffaloes  raced  away  over 
the  plains  and  the  dogs  after  them  breaking  their 
travois  and  spilling  everything  on  them.  Two  little 
babies  were  spilled  off  into  the  long  prairie  grass  and 
lost.  The  Indians  could  never  find  them  and  they 
probably  starved  to  death  on  the  plains. 

After  a  day's  hunting  was  ended,  Indians  liked  to 
tell  stories  around  the  camp-fires.  These  stories  were. 


170  MONTANA:    AN  HISTORICAL  READER 

of  the  "good  old  times,"  and  the  Blackfeet  said  Old 
Man  was  angry  if  they  were  told  in  the  daytime,  so 
they  were  never  told  except  at  night  around  the  camp- 
fires.  They  were  so  interesting  that  braves  would 
forget  to  smoke,  and  squaws  to  make  moccasins,  even 
when  they  knew  the  story  by  heart. 

An  Indian  was  just  as  anxious  to  know  what  was 
going  on  as  a  white  man  is  to  get  his  morning  paper. 
If  he  liked  the  new^s,  he  grunted  his  approval.  If  he 
was  surprised,  he  put  his  hand  over  his  mouth.  Every 
trader  or  trapper  who  came  into  an  Indian  camp  was 
a  walking  newspaper;  and  the  moment  the  tribe 
learned  he  was  there,  the  braves  crowded  around  him, 
if  they  knew  him,  for  the  latest  news. 

Now,  with  so  many  different  tribes,  each  speaking 
a  different  language,  do  you  wronder  how  they  under- 
stood each  other?  They  used  the  sign  language.  A 
trapper  who  did  not  know  a  word  of  any  Indian  lan- 
guage could  talk  to  a  Sioux,  a  Blackfoot,  a  Flathead, 
and  a  Crow%  all  at  the  same  time,  and  have  each  one 
understand  him.  He  would  not  say  a  word  either. 
It  would  all  be  done  with  his  hands. 


HOW  THE   INDIANS  LIVED  171 

The  sign  language  of  the  Indians  was  really  very 
wonderful,  for  Indians  from  any  tribe,  or  any  part  of 
the  country,  could  talk  to  any  other  tribe  by  means 
of  these  signs.  Traders  could  go  into  a  camp  of 
Indians  and  talk  to  them,  trade  with  them,  perhaps 
spend  a  winter  with  them,  and  not  know  a  word  of 
the  language.  One  famous  Montana  trapper  named 
William  T.  Hamilton  was  so  expert  with  the  sign 
language  that  the  Indians  said,  jokingly,  that  he  knew 
every  sign  they  did  and  a  great  many  more. 

Indians  were  very  fond  of  dancing.  They  had 
the  corn-dance,  the  grass-dance,  the  sun-dance,  the 
scalp-dance,  and  many  others.  All  tribes  had  their 
war-dances. 

Indian  dances  are  still  held  on  the  reservations 
to-day,  although  no\v  they  are  only  to  amuse  — "just 
like  the  whites"  as  one  of  them  said.  But  for  these 
dances  they  get  out  all  their  beaded  finery  and  lay 
their  plans  for  weeks  ahead.  In  Montana  these  dances 
are  usually  held  about  the  Fourth  of  July. 

Indian  music  is  not  like  that  of  the  white  man, 
because  it  has  no  accent.  It  is  sometimes  called  a 


172  MONTANA:    AN  HISTORICAL  READER 

"tom-tom."     All  the  dancing  is  done  to  the  music  of 
this    tom-tom  —  a    steady    thump,    thump,    thump  - 
beaten  on  a  rawhide  drum,  by  four  squatting  Indians. 
Dancers  keep  time  for  themselves,  too,  by  singing  - 
a  strange,  wailing  sound,  all  in  minor  chords,  which, 
when  it  is  once  heard,  is  never  forgotten. 

The  costumes  at  a  dance  held  on  the  Flathead 
reservation  in  1906  were  truly  Indian,  but  some  were 
really  beautiful.  Buckskin  suits,  beautifully  beaded, 
were  trimmed  with  the  tails  of  weasels.  These  tails 
are  pure  white,  with  a  little  black  tip.  Other  costumes 
were  made  out  of  blankets  with  gaudy  stripes  of  red 
and  blue  and  yellow.  Another  was  of  deep  crimson 
with  broad  fur  belt,  a  necklace  of  bears'  claws,  and 
beaded  leggings  and  moccasins. 

Every  Indian  was  decorated  with  long  straps  of 
bells.  These  straps,  covered  with  tiny  sleigh-bells, 
were  looped  to  his  belt,  or  wound  around  his  waist 
and  knees,  while  other  long  straps  were  fastened  to 
the  outside  seams  of  his  queerly  cut  trousers.  .With 
imitation  tomahawks,  these  Indian  warriors  danced 
around  and  around  their  imaginary  victim,  striking 


HOW  THE  INDIANS  LIVED  173 

at  him  with  their  knives  and  tomahawks  while  all  the 
time  the  steady  tom-tom  of  the  drum,  the  singing 
of  the  drummers  and  dancers,  the  jingle- jangle  of 
hundreds  of  tiny  bells,  and  the  incessant  war-whoops, 
made  a  perfect  crash  of  sound. 

It  was  a  very  hot  day,  and  some  one  had  brought 
plenty  of  real  pink,  circus  lemonade  to  the  dancing 
grounds.  It  was  a  very  queer  sight  to  see  these  yelling 
savages,  with  war-bonnets,  painted  hair,  and  painted 
faces,  after  ending  a  dance,  drink  the  pink  lemonade 
and  drop  down  on  a  seat  with  a  broad  grin  and  "Ugh! 
It's  hot  to-day." 

The  beading  was  beautiful.  There  were  beaded 
belts  and  beaded  moccasins,  elaborately  beaded  leg- 
gings and  beaded  armlets,  long  necklaces  of  beads, 
and  vests  that  were  so  stiff  with  the  beading  they  could 
not  be  bent  without  breaking.  The  colors  were  the 
four  Indian  colors  -  -  red,  blue,  white,  and  yellow  - 
but  especially  blue  and  white,  since  those  two  colors 
are  more  sacred. 

On  one  day  they  had  a  great  procession  around  the 
circle  of  a  hundred  tepees,  which  formed  the  encamp- 


174  MONTANA:    AN  HISTORICAL  READER 

ment.  Every  warrior  was  on  his  favorite  pony,  and 
the  ponies  were  dressed  up  just  as  much  as  their 
masters.  The  beaded  saddle  blankets  had  long  buck- 
skin fringes  which  almost  swept  the  ground.  The 
braves  in  their  gayest  colors,  with  war-bonnets  and 
blankets  and  beads  and  necklaces,  paraded  around 
and  around  the  circle  on  these  beautifully  decorated 
ponies.  The  blue  mountains  close  by,  the  bright 
sunlight  shining  on  tamarack  forests  and  on  the  wide- 
sweeping  circle  of  tepees,  made  a  beautiful  back- 
ground for  this  parade.  Even  the  ground  was  carpeted 
with  wild  flowers  of  all  colors. 

On  another  day  there  was  a  sham  battle.  An 
opposing  band  of  warriors  pretended  to  steal  a  herd 
of  ponies.  Of  course,  the  theft  was  quickly  discovered, 
and  then  away  went  the  Flathead  pursuing  party 
with  wild  whoops  and  yells,  arms  and  legs  flapping 
in  true  Indian  fashion  with  every  motion  of  the  pony. 
You  could  hear  the  quick  bang!  bang!  bang!  of  the 
rifles  in  the  fresh  mountain  air.  Then  the  Flatheads 
came  whooping  back  waving  the  imitation  scalps  of 
the  enemy. 


HOW  THE   INDIANS  LIVED  175 

Some  of  the  Indians  at  this  dance  had  long  fox- 
tails hanging  down  their  backs.  This  was  because 
they  had  been  in  prison  and  had  had  their  hair  cut 
off.  An  Indian  does  n't  care  much  about  being 
sent  to  prison,  but  he  does  care  about  having  short 
hair.  That  is  a  great  disgrace.  All  Western  Indians 
leave  the  hair  long,  part  it  in  the  middle,  and  braid  it 
in  two  plaits,  but  they  alwrays  leave  the  scalp  lock  free. 
That  is  a  sign  of  bravery. 

But  in  spite  of  their  dances  and  their  easy  life,  the 
Indians  of  to-day  are  not  happy.  The  buffaloes  are 
gone,  their  mountains  and  the  broad  plains  belong  to 
the  whites,  and  they  are  cooped  up  on  their  reserva- 
tions. It  is  not  fifty  years  ago  that  gold  wras  discov- 
ered in  Montana,  and  some  of  the  old  men  in  the 
tribes  remember  very  plainly  the  days  before  the 
fire-canoes  came  up  the  river,  when  there  were  no 
white  men  at  all  in  the  Land  of  the  Shining  Mountains. 
Now  even  the  reservations  are  being  thrown  open 
to  the  whites,  and  the  Indians  are  being  scattered, 
rach  on  his  own  little  farm.  But  many  do  not  like 
farming,  and  do  not  know  how  to  manage  it,  so  they 


176  MONTANA:    AN  HISTORICAL  READER 

are  not  very  successful.  The  old  men  in  the  tribes, 
all  over  the  West,  mourn  always  over  the  scattering 
of  their  people,  the  fencing  in  of  the  wide  plains,  and 
the  loss  of  the  buffaloes.  They  grieve  over  the  glories 
of  the  past  days  when  the  Indians  were  free.  They 
can  see  no  hope  for  the  future.  Some  of  these  old 
warriors  are  so  mournful  over  their  loss  of  freedom 
that  they  say  they  will  be  glad  when  they  go  to  the 
Sand  Hills,  where  buffaloes  and  ponies  are  plentiful, 
or  climb  over  the  white  pathway  of  the  Milky  Way  to 
the  Always-Summer  Land. 


APPENDIX 


APPENDIX 

BRIEF    ANNOTATED    BIBLIOGRAPHY  OF  BOOKS  TOUCH- 
ING  UPON   MONTANA    HISTORY 

The  object  in  preparing  this  brief  annotated  list  was  that  of  assisting 
teachers  and  librarians  in  Montana,  especially  in  the  smaller  towns,  in  the 
purchase  of  books  bearing  upon  the  history  of  the  State.  The  list  is  not 
at  all  complete,  nor  do  the  annotations  profess  to  be  either  critical  or 
scholarly.  They  are  simply  suggestive,  intended  to  be  used  only  as  a 
general  guide  to  the  contents  of  the  books  commented  upon. 

Teachers  and  librarians  who  are  interested  in  this  subject  will  find  of 
great  value  to  them  Bulletins  Nos.  1  and  11,  published  in  September, 
1907,  and  1908,  respectively,  by  the  Montana  State  Historical  and  Mis- 
cellaneous Library.  No.  1  is  an  author  catalogue  of  books  on  history  in 
that  library.  No.  11  contains  an  outline  for  the  study  of  the  State's  his- 
tory, with  a  valuable  reading  list  which  includes  not  only  printed  books 
but  manuscripts  in  the  possession  of  the  Society.  Unless  out  of  print, 
these  can  be  obtained  from  the  Librarian  of  the  Montana  State  His- 
torical Society  at  Helena. 

BANCROFT,  HUBERT  HOWE.     History  of  the  Northwest  Coast,  1800-1846. 

2  vols.     San  Francisco,  1884, 

This  very  comprehensive  work  begins  with  the  mystery  of  the  North- 
west, then  outlines  Spanish  exploration  from  the  south,  Russian  explora- 
tion from  the  north,  and  English  explorations  by  Captain  Cook  and  his 
successors.  The  early  history  of  the  entire  Northwest  is  given  up  to  the 
settlement  of  the  Oregon  question  with  the  49th  parallel  as  the  northern 
boundary  of  American  possessions.  This  period  includes,  of  course,  the 
very  early  history  of  Montana  during  the  time  it  was  known,  only  to 
traders,  trappers,  and  the  earliest  missionaries.  The  exploration  of  the 
Rocky  Mountains  is  given  with  reasonable  degree  of  fulness,  while  one 
full  chapter  is  given  to  the  mountain  ranges  of  America  and  the  various 
routes  across  the  continent  to  the  Far  West.  Bibliography  of  authorities 
used  occupies  seventeen  pages. 

179 


180  APPENDIX 

BANCROFT,  HUBERT  HOWE.  History  of  Washington,  Idaho,  and  Mon- 
tana, 1845-1889.  San  Francisco,  1890. 

Only  one  hundred  and  twenty-five  pages  are  given  to  a  general  history 
of  Montana.  Chapter  I,  in  thirty  pages,  gives  a  brief  account  of  the 
Territory  from  1728  to  1862,  when  gold  was  discovered.  This  is  partly 
a  resume  of  the  material  given  in  this  author's  "  History  of  the  Northwest 
Coast."  This  history  of  Montana,  however,  though  very  brief,  is  accu- 
rate. 

BANCROFT,  HUBERT  HOWE.     Native  Races  of  the  Pacific  States  of  North 

America.     5  vols.     San  Francisco,  1874. 

Vol.  I,  Wild  Tribes;  Vol.  II,  Civilized  Nations;  Vol.  Ill,  Myths  and 
Languages;  Vol.  IV,  Antiquities;  Vol.  V,  Primitive  History.  Volumes 
I  and  III  have  more  or  less  information  regarding  the  myths,  languages, 
and  tribes  of  Montana,  but  not  nearly  so  much  as  on  the  tribes  along  the 
Columbia  and  on  the  Coast. 

BANCROFT,  HUBERT  HOWE.  Popular  Tribunals.  2  vols.  San  Fran- 
cisco, 1887. 

Only  Volume  I  touches  upon  Montana.  The  work  is  a  very  complete 
survey  of  the  pioneer  conditions  and  frontier  lawlessness  which  led  to  the 
organization  of  the  Vigilantes.  It  covers  not  only  the  Northwest,  but 
California  and  the  Southwest  as  well.  Out  of  1,500  pages,  only  47  are 
given  to  Montana,  yet  through  the  Index  the  career  of  Montana  desper- 
adoes may  be  traced  in  other  communities.  The  chief  authorities  for  the 
operations  of  Vigilantes  in  Montana  are  the  early  newspapers  of  the  Terri- 
tory and  the  writings  of  Langford  or  Dimsdale.  Dimsdale  has  long  been 
out  of  print,  although  there  is  a  prospect  of  an  early  reprint  of  his  book. 
For  general  reading,  Langford  is  more  satisfactory  than  Bancroft. 

CHITTENDEN,  HIRAM  M.  The  American  Fur  Trade  of  the  Far  West; 
a  history  of  the  pioneer  trading  posts  and  early  fur  companies  of  the 
Missouri  Valley  and  the  Rocky  Mountains,  and  of  the  overland  com- 
merce with  Santa  Fe.  3  vols.  Frances  P.  Harper,  New  York. 
1902.  $10.00. 

This  is  a  complete,  detailed  history  of  the  fur-trade,  not  only  in  its 
practical  side,  giving,  as  it  does,  copies  of  actual  business  papers  and  the 
annual  profits  in  certain  years,  but  also  of  the  rivalry  between  the  fur 
companies,  the  life  at  the  forts,  a  list  of  all  the  forts  in  the  Northwest  with 
dates  of  founding  and  exact  location.  It  also  tells  the  personal  experiences 


APPENDIX  181 

of  some  of  the  better  known  "mountain  men,"  such  as  Colter,  Bridger, 
Sublette,  Ashley,  and  others.  The  volumes  are  a  mine  of  information 
upon  all  phases  of  the  fur-trade. 

CHITTENDEN,  HIKAM  M.     History  of  the  Early  Steamboat  Navigation  on 

the   Missouri   River;     Life   and  Adventures  of   Joseph   LaBarge. 

2  vols.     Frances  P.  Harper,  New  York.     1903.     $6.00. 

The  career  of  Captain  LaBarge  is  used  as  a  thread  on  which  to  string 

stirring  events.     A  clear  picture  is  given  of  the  difficulties  of  Missouri  River 

navigation  on  account  of  the  "snags,"    the  swift  current,  and  in  later 

years  the  constant  danger  from  Indians.     The  importance  of  the  fur-trade 

on  the  river,  especially  at  Fort  Benton  and  Fort  Union,  is  well  brought 

out.     The  book  is  one  of  the  leading  authorities  on  the  river  navigation, 

but  it  is  not  one  which  would  appeal  to  young  people  or  to  the  general 

reader. 

DE  SMET,  PIERRE-JEAN,  S.  J.  Life,  Letters,  and  Travels  of  Father 
De  Smet,  1801-1873.  Edited  by  H.  H.  Chittenden  and  A.  T. 
Richardson.  4  vols.  Frances  P.  Harper,  New  York,  1905. 
$15.00. 

From  1840,  when  he  came  in  answrer  to  the  appeals  of  the  Flatheads 
(Salisli)  for  a  "Black  Robe,"  until  1870,  Father  De  Smet  spent  most  of 
his  life  in  the  Northwest,  especially  in  what  is  now  Montana.  He  was  on 
friendly  terms  with  all  the  Indians  and  upon  intimate  terms  with  many. 
When  the  Blackfeet  were  on  the  warpath,  he  wras  selected  by  the  L^nited 
States  Government  to  open  negotiations  with  them.  Although  his  first 
interest  was  in  the  religious  training  of  the  Indians,  Father  De  Smet  had 
a  keen  eye  for  the  beauties  of  the  broad  plains  and  of  the  rugged  moun- 
tains, with  unusual  powers  of  description.  Flowers,  wild  animals,  especi- 
ally the  buffalo,  and  the  still  wilder  Indians  writh  their  various  habits  and 
customs,  methods  of  hunting,  treatment  of  prisoners — all  these  came 
under  his  observation  and  are  commented  upon  in  his  letters.  He  saw 
the  country  as  it  can  never  be  seen  again  and  his  letters  are  historically  of 
the  greatest  value. 

Di.  SMKT,  PIKRRE-JEAN,  S.  J.     Western  Missions  and  Missionaries:    a 

Series  of  Letters.     P.  J.  Kennedy.     New  York,  1859. 
These  letters  are  included  in  Chittenden's  "Life,  Letters,  and  Travels 
of  Father  De  Smet,"  mentioned    above.     The    date  of  issue  shows  that 
they  are  only  the  earlier  letters. 


182  APPENDIX 

GRINNELL,  GEORGE  BIRD.     Blackfoot  Lodge  Tales.     Chas.  Scribner's 

Sons,  N.  Y.  1892.     $1*75. 

A  book  full  of  the  legends  and  folk-tales  of  the  Blackfoot  Indians. 
The  coyote,  "Old  Man,"  and  the  Sand  Hills  figure  in  nearly  all  of  them. 
The  tales  are  sympathetically  told,  and  the  Indian  point  of  view  is  well 
brought  out.  The  book  is  well  written  and  thoroughly  readable  to  any 
one  interested  either  in  Indians  or  in  folk-lore. 

HAMILTON,  WILLIAM  T.     My  Sixty  Years  on  the  Plains.     Forest  and 

Stream  Pub.  Co.,  New  York.  "  $1.50. 

"Bill"  Hamilton  was  one  of  the  best-known  traders  in  the  mountains 
and  a  man  who  knew  the  sign  language  so  well  that  the  Indians  said  he 
knew  all  the  signs  they  did  and  more  too.  The  book  is  one  which  appeals 
to  boys,  passing  from  hand  to  hand  with  emphatic  boyish  approval.  It 
is  filled  with  hairbreadth  escapes,  Indian  fights,  dangers,  and  exciting 
episodes  of  every  sort.  It  has  been  said  that  the  story  of  Hamilton's  life 
has  lost  nothing  in  the  telling,  to.v/hich  answer  has  been  made  that  it 
could  lose  a  very  great  deal  and  still  be  a  most  thrilling  tale. 

HENRY,  ALEXANDER,  and  THOMPSON,  DAVID.  More  Light  on  the  Early 
History  of  the  Great  Northwest.  Manuscript  journals  of  Alex- 
ander Henry,  fur-tradei*of  the  Northwest  Company,  and  of  David 
Thompson,  official  geographer  and  explorer  of  the  same  company, 
1799-1814.  Exploration  and  adventure  among  the  Indians  on 
the  Red,  Saskatchewan,  Missouri,  and  Columbia  Rivers.  Edited 
with  copious  critical  comments  by  Elliott  Coues.  3  vols.  Frances 
P.  Harper,  New  York.  1897.  $10.00. 

Alexander  Henry  the  younger  was  one  of  the  famous  "Northmen," 
that  is  one  of  the  partners  of  the  Northwest  Fur  Company,  whose  adven- 
tures, covering  as  they  do  the  period  immediately  following  the  Lewis  and 
Clark  Expedition,  are  of  great  value  as  a  connecting-link  to  the  better- 
known  period  which  followed,  the  latter  beginning  about  1820.  Out  of 
a  tangled  maze  of  notes  and  journals  the  editor  has  secured  a  clear, 
straightforward  account  of  Henry's  experiences.  Dr.  Coues  characterizes 
it  as  "an  absolutely  unvarnished  tale."  "Henry's  disillusionment,  his 
practical  pessimism,  his  entire  lack  of  imagination,  and  his  insistence  upon 
bare  fact  .  .  .  have  conspired  to  a  singularly  veracious  contribution." 
David  Thompson  was  the  discoverer  of  the  sources  of  the  Columbia, 
a  pathfinder  across  the  continent,  and  the  greatest  geographer  of  his  day 
in  British  America. 


APPENDIX  183 

HUMFREVILLE,  JACOB  LEE.     Twenty  Years  among  Our  Savage  Indians; 

a  record   of  personal   experiences,   observations,   and   adventures 

among  the  Indians  of  the  Wild  West.     1897. 

United  States  soldiers  who  were  detailed  for  Indian  fighting  on  the 
frontier  had  little  love  for  the  Indians.  The  traditional  good  Indian  to 
them  was  the  dead  Indian.  The  author  reflects  this  spirit  throughout 
his  book,  although  he  makes  an  evident  effort  to  be  just.  He  records 
Indian  ways  of  living,  hunting,  fighting,  dying,  simply  as  an  outsider  and 
without  any  effort  to  give  a  sympathetic  interpretation  from  the  Indian's 
point  of  view.  The  work  could  hardly  be  considered  authoritative,  al- 
though correct  in  its  main  outlines.  ' 

IRVING,  WASHINGTON.     Astoria, 

IRVING,  WASHINGTON.     Captain  Bonneville's  Adventures. 

Although  for  a  time  Irving  was  accused  of  straining  after  the  pictur- 
esque in  these  two  books  of  Western  adventure,  later  investigations  have 
proved  him  to  be  perfectly  reliable  in  the  pictures  he  has  drawn  of  the  Far 
West  in  the  early  days  when  mountain  trading  was  at  its  height.  For 
vividness  and  charm  of  language  only  Parkman  can  be  compared  to  him. 
A  new  edition  of  these  two  books,  under  the  title  of  "The  Fur  Traders  of 
the  Columbia  River  and  the  Rocky  Mountains,"  has  been  issued  by 
G.  P.  Putnam's  Sons  in  one  volume  at  ninety  cents.  Some  additions  have 
been  made  by  the  editor  as  well  as  some  little  rearrangement  of  material, 
so  that  it  reads  as  one  straight  story  and  is  of  especial  value  to  school 
children. 

KING,  CAPTAIN  CHARLES.     Campaigning  with  Crook.     Harper  &  Bros,, 

N.  Y.     1898.     $1.25. 

Captain  King  was  campaigning  with  Crook  when  that  General  tried 
to  reach  the  mouth  of  the  Little  Big  Horn  in  time  for  the  anticipated  battle 
with  the  Sioux  in  1876.  He  was  too  late  to  save  Custer,  but  did  energetic 
work  in  trying  to  overtake  the  escaping  Indians.  A  good  description  of 
frontier  warfare. 

LANGFORD,  NATHANIEL  P.  Vigilante  Days  and  Ways.  2  vols.  1890. 
This  is  a  generally  accepted  authority  on  early  mining  days  in  Mon- 
tana. The  picture  painted  of  the  Vigilantes  is  a  vivid  one.  This  work 
is  also  published  two  volumes  in  one.  See  also  note  on  Bancroft's  "Pop- 
ular Tribunals." 


184  APPENDIX 

LARPENTEUR,  CHARLES,  Forty  Years  a  Fur  Trader  of  the  Upper  Mis- 
souri: the  personal  narrative  of  Charles  Larpenteur,  1833-1872. 
Edited,  with  many  critical  notes,  by  Elliott  Coues.  2  vols.  Frances 
P.  Harper,  New  York.  1898,  $6.00. 

"A  notable  and  entirely  novel  contribution  to  our  knowledge  of  the 
fur-trade  of  the  upper  Missouri  by  one  who  lived  the  life  and  worked  his 
way  through  it  from  the  position  of  a  mere  hand  to  that  of  one  of  its  heads." 
The  fur-trade  "called  out  some  of  the  best  as  wrell  as  the  worst  of  human 
qualities,"  and  Larpenteur  sets  them  all  down  in  his  journal.  Of  great 
value  to  students  of  Montana  history,  but  of  little  interest  to  young  people 
or  to  the  casual  reader. 

LAUT,  AGNES  C.     Pathfinders  of  the  West;    being  the  thrilling  story  of 

the  adventures  of  the  men  wrho  discovered  the  great  Northwest: 

Radisson,    La   Verendrye,    Lewis    and   Clark.     Macmillan,    New 

York.     1904.     $2.00. 

Particularly  good  for  the  story  of  La  Verendrye,   the  first  white 

man  ever  known  to  have  seen  the  Rocky  Mountains  in  this  section 

LAUT,  AGNES  C.     Story  of  the  Trapper.     D.  Appleton  &  Co.,  New  York. 

1902.     $1.25. 

The  story  of  the  trapper,  as  told  by  Miss  Laut,  includes  the  trappers 
of  the  Hudson  Bay  Company  in  the  far  North  as  well  as  those  who  came 
into  the  Rocky  Mountains.  It  also  includes  the  habits  of  the  animals, 
one  whole  chapter  being  devoted  to  beavers,  and  a  great  deal  of  space  to 
the  wolverine.  The  book  is  not  biographical,  as  a  whole,  although  she 
tells  the  story  of  John  Colter's  race  with  the  Blackfeet  and  gives  other 
incidents  from  the  lives  of  well-known  trappers. 

LEWIS,  WILLIAM,  and  CLARK,  MERIWETHER.  Journals.  History  of 
the  expedition  under  the  command  of  Lewis  and  Clark  to  the  source 
of  the  Missouri  River,  thence  across  the  Rocky  Mountains  and 
down  the  Columbia  River  to  the  Pacific  Ocean,  performed  during 
the  years  1804-5-6  by  order  of  the  government  of  the  United  States. 
.  .  .  Original  manuscript  journal  and  field  notebooks  of  the  ex- 
plorers, together  with  a  new  biographical  and  bibliographical  intro- 
duction and  index  by  Elliott  Coues.  4  vols.  Frances  P.  Harper, 
New  York.  1893.  $12=50. 


APPENDIX  185 

LEWIS,    WILLIAM,    and    CLARK,    MERIWETHER.     Journals.     Reprinted 

from -the  Edition  of  1814,  with  introduction  and  index  by  James  K. 

Hosmer.     2  vols.     A.  C.  McClurg  &  Co.,  Chicago.     1902.    $5.00. 

"An  accurate  reprint  of  the  original  Biddle  text  of  1814,  now  very 

rare."    Thomas  Jefferson's  sketch  of  the  life  of  Meriwether  Lewis,  written 

for  the  1814  Edition,  is  retained.     Facsimiles  of  the  original  maps  are 

presented.     The  type  is  large,   the  whole  book  admirably  well  made. 

Spelling  and  punctuation  are  modern.     Each  chapter  is  prefaced  with  a 

detailed  statement  of  its  contents.     A  thoroughly  practical  and  pleasing 

edition  for  general  use. 

LEWIS,  WILLIAM,  and  CLARK,  MERIWETHER.  Journals.  History  of  the 
Expedition  under  the  command  of  Captains  Lewis  and  Clark  to 
the  sources  of  the  Missouri,  thence  across  the  Rocky  Mountains 
and  down  the  river  Columbia  to  the  Pacific  Ocean ...  A  com- 
plete reprint  of  the  Biddle  edition  of  1814,  to  which  all  members  of 
the  expedition  contributed,  with  an  account  of  the  Louisiana  Pur- 
chase, by  Professor  John  Bach  McMasters,  and  notes  upon  the 
route.  3  vols.  Barnes,  New  York.  1904.  $1.00  each. 
Probably  the  best  of  the  cheaper  editions. 

LEWIS,  WILLIAM,  and  CLARK,  MERIWETHER.  Journals.  Original 
journals  of  the  Lewis  and  Clark  Expedition,  1804-1806;  printed 
from  the  original  manuscripts  in  the  library  of  the  American  Philo- 
sophical Society,  and  by  direction  of  its  Committee  on  Historical 
Documents,  together  with  manuscript  material  of  Lewis  and  Clark 
from  other  sources,  including  notebooks,  letters,  maps,  etc.,  and 
the  journals  of  Charles  Floyd  and  Joseph  Whitehouse,  now  for  the 
first  time  published  in  full  and  exactly  as  written.  Edited,  with 
introduction,  notes,  and  index,  by  Reuben  Gold  Thwaites.  8  vols. 
Dodd,  Mead  &  Co.,  New  York"  $60.00. 

The  original  spelling,  punctuation,  and  capitalization  are  given.  The 
Index  is  very  complete;.  Volume  VIII  is  an  atlas.  This  is  without 
question  the  most  complete  edition  and  the  one  most  satisfactory  to  his- 
torical students. 

MONTANA    HISTORICAL    SOCIETY    CONTRIBUTIONS.     (}  vols.     Published 

by  the  Society,  Helena,  Montana. 

These  volumes  are  made  up  largely  from  articles  or  reminiscences 
contributed  by  the  pioneers  who  themselves  made  the.  history  of  those 


186  APPENDIX 

early  days.  They  are  of  great  value  to  any  student  of  Montana  history. 
Occasional  contradictions  of  statement  are  found  since  the  same  incident 
is  frequently  related  by  two  or  more  writers,  yet  there  are  none  which 
would  injure  the  genuine  value  of  the  "Contributions." 

PALLADINO,  LAWRENCE  B.,  S.  J.     Indian  and  White  in  the  Northwest; 

a  History  of  Catholic  Missions.     1894.     $4.00. 

The  book  is  what  it  purports  to  be  —  the  history  of  Catholic  missions 
in  the  Northwest.  As  the  earliest  settlements,  however,  were  the  missions, 
the  book  has  historical  value  since  it  portrays  the  difficulties  of  these  settle- 
ments when  the  nearest  sack  of  seed  potatoes  was  three  hundred  miles 
away,  over  a  rugged  mountain  range,  and  the  nearest  plough  a  thousand 
miles  away  on  the  Coast. 

PARKMAN,  FRANCIS.  The  Oregon  Trail.  Illustrated  by  Frederic  Rem- 
ington. Little,  Brown  &  Co.,  Boston.  $2.00. 

For  charm  of  language,  vividness  of  description,  and  truthfulness  of 
fact  concerning  pioneer  conditions  which  have  forever  passed  away,  Park- 
man's  "Oregon  Trail"  can  never  be  equalled.  It  is  well  known  to  every 
schoolboy.  Parkman  himself  did  not  follow  this  "  Great  Medicine  Road 
of  the  Whites"  beyond  the  Rocky  Mountains  and  therefore  did  not  in  any 
way  touch  Montana,  yet  this  book  must  be  read  to  understand  the  story 
of  the  Trail. 

Besides  the  edition  mentioned  above,  Little,  Brown  &  Co.,  and  other 
publishers,  issue  the  book  in  almost  every  form  of  binding,  ranging  in  price 
from  7.5  cents  to  $4.00.  The  one  illustrated  by  Remington,  however,  is 
unusually  attractive  in  type,  illustrations,  and  general  make-up. 

PARRISH,  RANDALL.  The  Great  Plains;  the  Romance  of  Western 
American  Exploration,  Warfare,  and  Settlement,  1527-1870.  A.  C. 
McClurg  &  Co.,  Chicago.  1908.  $1.75. 

A  thoroughly  interesting,  readable  book,  correct  in  its  broader  out- 
lines but  not  entirely  accurate  in  details.  Some  surprising  statements  are 
made  without  quotation  of  authority,  such  as  that  concerning  the  pony 
express  rider  who  "covered  380  miles  without  pause,  through  a' region 
swarming  with  Indians  on  the  warpath."  Such  a  statement,  and  there 
are  others  equally  daring,  should  have  at  least  a  foot-note.  The  book, 
however,  as  a  whole,  gives  vigorous  outlines  of  the  danger  and  daring  of 
the  men  who  crossed  the  Great  Plains  and  settled  the  West.  Large,  clear 
type  and  numerous  illustrations  make  the  book  attractive. 


APPENDIX  187 

RONAN,    PETER.     Historical    Sketch    of   the    Flathead    Indian    Nation. 

Helena,  Mont. 

The  many  faults,  typographical  and  otherwise,  of  this  little  monograph 
are  easily  forgiven  when  it  is  understood  that  Major  Ronan  did  not  pretend 
to  be  a  historian,  but  that  as  agent  on  the  Flathead  Reservation  he  made 
an  effort  to  preserve  as  many  facts  as  he  could  obtain  concerning  the  Flat- 
head  tribe. 

SCHAFER,  JOSEPH.     History  of  the  Pacific  Northwest.     Macmillan  &  Co., 

New  York.     $1.25. 

Like  all  other  histories  of  the  Northwest  or  of  Old  Oregon,  this  almost 
ignores  the  early  history  of  Montana  and  confines  itself  strictly  to  the 
Pacific  Northwest,  as  indicated  in  the  title.  Since  a  knowledge  of  the 
history  of  Old  Oregon,  however,  is  very  necessary  to  a  clear  understanding 
of  that  of  Montana,  this  history  serves  that  purpose  well.  It  is  well 
printed,  carefully  written,  and  interesting. 

SCHULTZ,  J.  W.     My  Life  as  an  Indian.     Edited  by  George  Bird  Grinnell. 

Doubleday,  Page  &  Co.,  New  York.     $1.50. 

Mr.  Schultz  when  a  very  young  man  came  to  Montana  for  adventure. 
He  enjoyed  so  thoroughly  the  wild,  free  life  of  the  plains  that  he  married  a 
Blackfoot  squaw,  was  adopted  into  the  tribe,  and  to  all  intents  and  pur- 
poses became  an  Indian.  His  story  is  thoroughly  interesting  and  probably 
accurate  except  as  it  idealizes  the  Blackfeet,  the  most  savage  of  all  the 
Montana  tribes,  and  the  inveterate  enemy  of  the  whites.  He  mourned  as 
bitterly  as  any  Indian  the  loss  of  the  buffaloes  and  the  coming  of  the  white 
man. 

SHIELDS,  G.  O.     Battle  of  the  Big  Hole.     Chicago.     1889. 

This  description  of  the  Battle  of  the  Big  Hole  was  written  only 'ten 
years  after  it  occurred,  by  one  of  the  officers  engaged  in  it.  Without 
exaggeration  or  pretence,  it  is  a  simply  told  but  interesting  account  of  the 
long  tramp  of  the  "walking  soldiers"  as  they  trailed  after  the  Indians  and 
the  battle  which  followed. 

STUART,  GRANVILLE.     Montana  As  It  Is.     1866. 

An  interesting  monograph  on  Montana  as  it  was  two  years  after  the 
discovery  of  gold  at  Alder  Gulch.  The  facts  given,  studied  in  connection 
with  the  journals  of  such  men  as  Henry  De  Smet,  and  Larpenteur,  assist 
in  bringing  to  mind  a  vivid  picture  of  early  days.  Several  hundred  Indian 
words  with  their  meaning  are  given.  The  book  is  now  out  of  print  but 
will  probably  be  reprinted. 


188  APPENDIX 

THWAITES,  REUBEN  GOLD.     Brief  History  of  Rocky  Mountain  Explora- 
tion  with  Especial  Reference  to  the  Expedition  of  Lewis  and  Clark. 
D.  Appleton   &  Co.,  New  York.     1904.     $1.25. 
A  short  history,  thoroughly  reliable,  of  the  early  explorers  in  the 

Rocky  Mountains. 

THWAITES,  REUBEN  GOLD.  Early  Western  Travels:  a  series  of  anno- 
tated reprints  of  some  of  the  best  and  rarest  contemporary  volumes 
of  travels  ...  in  the  middle  and  far  West  during  the  period  of 
early  American  settlement.  31  vols.  A.  H.  Clark  &  Co.,  Cleveland. 
1904-1905.  $4.00,  each. 

Almost  perfect  in  paper,  type,  and  general  make-up,  and  authoritative 
in  every  sense.  Only  the  later  volumes  touch  on  the  early  history  of 
Montana,  and  these  include  the  travels  of  Maximilian  and  the  letters  of 
Father  De  Smet.  The  last  two  volumes  of  the  set  are  given  up  to  a  very 
complete  index. 

VICTOR,  MRS.  FRANCES  FULLER.     River  of  the  West.     1870. 

A  biography  of  Josephy  Meek,  one  of  the  most  picturesque  of  the 
"mountain  men"  and  unquestionably  one  of  the  best  guides  in  the  North- 
west. Meek  wandered  from  the  Great  Plains  to  the  coast,  but  much  of 
his  trapping  was  done  in  the  Rocky  Mountains  and  many  of  his  encounters 
with  Indians  were  with  the  Montana  tribes.  The  stories  of  fights  with  or 
escapes  from  Blackfeet,  Sioux,  and  Crows  are  frequently  told  in  the  old 
trapper's  own  words.  They  are  very  effective  in  giving  a  realization  of 
the  dangers  to  which  trappers  were  exposed.  Boys  would  enjoy  many 
of  the  stories  from  the  book,  but  few  would  care  to  read  the  entire  volume. 

WHEELER,  OLIN  D.     On  the  Trail  of  Lewis  and  Clark:   A  story  of  the 

great  exploration  of  1804-1806,  with  a  description  of  the  old  trail, 

based  upon  actual  travel  over  it  and  of  the  changes  found  a  century 

later.     2  vols.     G.  P.  Putnam's  Sons,  New  York.     1904.     $6.00. 

In  a  most  entertaining  way,  Mr.  Wheeler  follows  the  trail  of  Lewis 

and  Clark,  quoting  frequently  from  the  journals  of  the  explorers  with 

comments  of  his  own  upon  the  present  location  or  condition  of  points  of 

interest  along  the  trail.     He  also  includes  many  photographs  of  historic 

points  in  Montana,  such  as  "Road  Agents'  Rock,"  near  Bannack.     Few 

conclusions  reached  by  Mr.  Wheeler  have  been  disputed,  so  that  the  two 

volumes  are  authoritative.      More  than  that,  they  are  really  fascinating 

and  should  be  in  every  Montana  library. 


STATE   CONSTITUTION   OF   MONTANA 


ARTICLE  I. —  BOUNDARIES. 

SECTION  1.  The  boundaries  of  the  State  of  Montana  shall  be  as 
follows,  to-wit:  Beginning  at  a  point  formed  by  the  intersection  of  the 
twenty-seventh  degree  of  longitude  west  from  Washington  with  the  forty- 
fifth  degree  of  north  latitude;  thence  due  west  on  the  forty-fifth  degree  of 
latitude  to  a  point  formed  by  its  intersection  with  the  thirty-fourth  degree 
of  longitude  west  from  Washington;  thence  due  south  along  the  thirty- 
fourth  degree  of  longitude,  to  a  point  formed  by  its  intersection  with  the 
crest  of  the  Rocky  Mountains;  thence  following  the  crest  of  the  Rocky 
Mountains  northward  to  its  intersection  with  the  Bitter  Root  Mountains; 
thence  northward  along  the  crest  of  the  Bitter  Root  Mountains,  to  its 
intersection  with  the  thirty-ninth  degree  of  longitude  west  from  Wash- 
ington; thence  along  the  thirty-ninth  degree  of  longitude  northward  to 
the  boundary  line  of  the  British  Possessions;  thence  eastward  along  that 
boundary  line  to  the  twenty-seventh  degree  of  longitude  west  from  Wash- 
ington; thence  southward  along  the  twenty-seventh  degree  of  longitude 
to  the  place  of  beginning. 

ARTICLE  II. —  MILITARY  RESERVATIONS. 

SECTION  1.  Authority  is  hereby  granted  to  and  acknowledged  in  the 
United  States  to  exercise  exclusive  legislation  as  provided  by  the  Consti- 
tution of  the  United  States,  over  the  Military  Reservations  of  Fort  Assina- 
boine,  Fort  Custer,  Fort  Keogh,  Fort  Maginnis,  Fort  Missoula,  and  Fort 
Shaw,  as  now  established  by  law,  so  long  as  said  places  remain  Military 
Reservations,  to  the  same  extent  and  with  the  same  effect  as  if  said  reser- 
vations had  been  purchased  by  the  United  States  by  consent  of  the  Leg- 
islative Assembly  of  the  State  of  Montana;  and  the  Legislative  Assembly 
is  authorized  and  directed  to  enact  any  law  necessary  or  proper  to  give 
effect  to  this  article. 

Provided,  That  there  be  and  is  hereby  reserved  to  the  State  the  right 
to  serve  all  legal*process  of  the  State,  both  civil  and  criminal,  upon  persons 
and  property  found  within  any  of  said  reservations  in  all  cases  where  the 
United  States  has  not  exclusive  jurisdiction. 

189 


190  APPENDIX 


ARTICLE  III. —  A  DECLARATION  OF  RIGHTS  OF  THE  PEOPLE  OF  THE 
STATE.  OF  MONTANA. 

SECTION  1.  All  political  power  is  vested  in  and  derived  from  the 
people;  all  government  of  right  originates  with  the  people;  is  founded 
upon  their  will  only,  and  is  instituted  solely  for  the  good  of  the  whole. 

SEC.  2.  The  people  of  the  State  have  the  sole  and  exclusive  right  of 
governing  themselves,  as  a  free,  sovereign,  and  independent  State,  and  to 
alter  and  abolish  their  constitution  and  form  of  government,  whenever 
they  may  deem  it  necessary  to  their  safety  and  happiness,  provided  such 
change  be  not  repugnant  to  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States. 

SEC.  3.  All  persons  are  born  equally  free,  and  have  certain  natural, 
essential,  and  inalienable  rights,  among  which  may  be  reckoned  the  right 
of  enjoying  and  defending  their  lives  and  liberties,  of  acquiring,  possessing, 
and  protecting  property,  and  of  seeking  and  obtaining  their  safety  and 
happiness  in  all  lawful  ways. 

SEC.  4.  The  free  exercise  and  enjoyment  of  religious  profession  and 
worship,  without  discrimination,  shall  forever  hereafter  be  guaranteed, 
and  no  person  shall  be  denied  any  civil  or  political  right  or  privilege  on 
account  of  his  opinions  concerning  religion;  but  the  liberty  of  conscience 
hereby  secured  shall  not  be  construed  to  dispense  with  oaths  or  affirma- 
tions, excuse  acts  of  licentiousness,  by  bigamous  or  polygamous  marriage, 
or  otherwise,  or  justify  practices  inconsistent  with  the  good  order,  peace, 
or  safety  of  the  State,  or  opposed  to  the  civil  authority  thereof,  or  of  the 
United  States.  No  person  shall  be  required  to  attend  any  place  of  worship 
or  support  any  ministry,  religious  sect,  or  denomination,  against  his  con- 
sent; nor  shall  any  preference  be  given  by  law  to  any  religious  denomina- 
tion or  mode  of  worship. 

SEC.  5.  All  elections  shall  be  free  and  open,  and  no  power,  civil  or 
military,  shall  at  any  time  interfere  to  prevent  the  free  exercise  of  the  right 
of  suffrage. 

SEC.  6.  Courts  of  justice  shall  be  open  to  every  person,  and  a  speedy 
remedy  afforded  for  every  injury  of  person,  property,  or  character;  and 
that  right  and  justice  shall  be  administered  without  sale,  denial,  or  delay. 

SEC.  7.  The  people  shall  be  secure  in  their  persons,  papers,  homes, 
and  effects,  from  unreasonable  searches  and  seizures,  and  no  warrant  to 
search  any  place  or  seize  any  person  or  thing,  shall  issue  without  describ- 
ing the  place  to  be  searched,  or  the  person  or  thing  to  be  seized,  nor  with- 
out probable  cause,  supported  by  oath  or  affirmation,  reduced  to  writing. 


APPENDIX  191 

SEC.  8.  Criminal  offences  of  which  justices'  courts  and  municipal 
and  other  courts,  inferior  to  the  district  courts,  have  jurisdiction,  shall, 
in  all  courts  inferior  to  the  district  court,  be  prosecuted  by  complaint.  All 
criminal  actions  in  the  district  court,  except  those  on  appeal,  shall  be  prose- 
cuted by  information,  after  examination  and  commitment,  by  a  magis- 
trate, or  after  leave  granted  by  the  court,  or  shall  be  prosecuted  by  indict- 
ment without  such  examination  or  commitment,  or  without  such  leave  of 
the  court.  A  grand  jury  shall  consist  of  seven  persons,  of  whom  five 
must  concur  to  find  an  indictment. 

A  grand  jury  shall  only  be  drawn  and  summoned  when  the  district 
judge  thall  in  his  discretion  consider  it  necessary,  and  shall  so  order. 

SEC.  9.  Treason  against  the  State  shall  consist  only  in  levying  war 
against  it,  or  in  adhering  to  its  enemies,  giving  them  aid  and  comfort;  no 
person  shall  be  convicted  of  treason  except  on  the  testimony  of  two  wit- 
nesses to  the  same  overt  act,  or  on  his  confession  in  open  court;  no  person 
shall  be  attainted  of  treason  or  felony  by  the  Legislative  Assembly;  no 
conviction  shall  work  corruption  of  blood  or  forfeiture  of  estate;  the 
estates  of  persons  who  may  destroy  their  own  lives  shall  descend  or  vest 
as  in  cases  of  natural  death. 

SEC.  10.  No  law* shall  be  passed  impairing  the  freedom  of  speech; 
every  person  shall  be  free  to  speak,  write,  or  publish  whatever  he  will  on 
any  subject,  being  responsible  for  all  abuse  of  that  liberty;  and  that  in  all 
suits  and  prosecutions  for  libel,  the  truth  thereof  may  be  given  in  evidence; 
and  the  jury,  under  the  direction  of  the  court,  shall  determine  the  law  and 
the  facts. 

SEC.  11.  No  ex  post  facto  law,  nor  law  impairing  the  obligation  of  con- 
tracts, or  making  any  irrevocable  grant  of  special  privileges,  franchises, 
or  immunities  shall  be  passed  by  the  Legislative  Assembly. 

SEC.  12.  No  person  shall  be  imprisoned  for  debt  except  in  the  man- 
ner prescribed  by  law,  upon  refusal  to  deliver  up  his  estate  for  the  benefit 
of  his  creditors,  or  in  cases  of  tort,  where  there  is  strong  presumption  of 
fraud. 

SEC.  13.  The  right  of  any  person  to  keep  or  bear  arms  in  defence  of 
his  own  home,  person,  and  property,  or  in  aid  of  the  civil  power  when 
thereto  legally  summoned,  shall  not  be  called  in  question,  but  nothing 
herein  contained  shall  be  held  to  permit  the  carrying  of  concealed  weapons. 

SEC.  14.  Private  property  shall  not  be  taken  or  damaged  for  public 
use  without  just  compensation  having  been  first  made  to,  or  paid  into  court 
for,  the  owner- 


192  APPENDIX 

SEC.  15.  The  use  of  all  water  now  appropriated,  or  that  may  here- 
after be  appropriated  for  sale,  rental,  distribution,  or  other  beneficial  use, 
and  the  right  of  way  over  the  lands  of  others,  for  all  ditches,  drains,  flumes, 
canals,  and  aqueducts,  necessarily  used  in  connection  therewith,  as  well 
as  the  sites  for  reservoirs  necessary  for  collecting  and  storing  the  same, 
shall  be  held  to  be  a  public  use.  Private  roads  may  be  opened  in  the 
manner  to  be  prescribed  by  law,  but  in  every  case  the  necessity  of  the  road, 
and  the  amount  of  all  damage  to  be  sustained  by  the  opening  thereof,  shall 
be  first  determined  by  a  jury,  and  such  amount,  together  with  the  expenses 
of  the  proceeding,  shall  be  paid  by  the  person  to  be  benefited. 

SEC.  16.  In  all  criminal  prosecutions  the  accused  shall  have  the  right 
to  appear  and  defend  in  person  and  by  counsel;  to  demand  the  nature 
and  cause  of  the  accusation;  to  meet  the  witnesses  against  him  face  to 
face;  to  have  process  to  compel  the  attendance  of  witnesses  in  his  behalf, 
and  a  speedy  public  trial  by  an  impartial  jury  of  the  county  or  district  in 
which  the  offence  is  alleged  to  have  been  committed,  subject  to  the  right 
of  the  State  to  have  a  change  of  venue  for  any  of  the  causes  for  which  the 
defendant  may  obtain  the  same. 

SEC.  17.  No  person  shall  be  imprisoned  for  the  purpose  of  securing 
his  testimony  in  any  criminal  proceeding  longer  than  may  be  necessary 
in  order  to  take  his  deposition.  If  he  can  give  security  for  his  appearance 
at  the  time  of  trial  he  shall  be  discharged  upon  giving  the  same;  if  he 
cannot  give  security,  his  deposition  shall  be  taken  in  the  manner  prescribed 
by  law,  and  in  the  presence  of  the  accused  and  his  counsel,  or  without 
their  presence,  if  they  shall  fail  to  attend  the  examination  after  reasonable 
notice  of  the  time  and  place  thereof.  Any  deposition  authorized  by  this 
Section  may  be  received  as  evidence  on  the  trial,  if  the  witness  shall  be 
dead  or  absent  from  the  State. 

SEC.  18.  No  person  shall  be  compelled  to  testify  against  himself,  in  a 
criminal  proceeding,  nor  shall  any  person  be  twice  put  in  jeopardy  for  the 
same  offence. 

SEC.  19.  All  persons  shall  be  bailable  by  sufficient  sureties,  except  for 
capital  offences,  when  the  proof  is  evident  or  the  presumption  great. 

SEC.  20.  Excessive  bail  shall  not  be  required,  nor  excessive  fines 
imposed,  nor  cruel  and  unusual  punishments  inflicted. 

SEC.  21 .  The  privilege  of  the  writ  of  habeas  corpus  shall  never  be  sus- 
pended, unless,  in  case  of  rebellion,  or  invasion,  the  public  safety  require  it. 

SEC.  22.  The  military  shall  always  be  in  strict  subordination  to  the 
civil  power;  no  soldier  shall  in  time  of  peace  be  quartered  in  any  house 


APPENDIX  193 

without  the  consent  of  the  owner,  nor  in  time  of  war,  except  in  the  manner 
prescribed  by  law. 

SP:C.  23.  The  right  of  trial  by  jury  shall  be  secured  to  all,  and  remain 
inviolate,  but  in  all  civil  cases  and  in  all  criminal  cases  not  amounting  to 
felony,  upon  default  of  appearance  or  by  consent  of  the  parties,  expressed 
in  such  manner  as  the  law  may  prescribe,  a  trial  by  jury  may  be  waived, 
or  a  trial  had  by  any  less  number  of  jurors  than  the  number  provided  by 
law.  A  jury  in  a  justice's  court,  both  in  civil  cases  and  in  cases  of  criminal 
misdemeanor,  shall  consist  of  not  more  than  six  persons.  In  all  civil 
actions  and  in  all  criminal  cases  not  amounting  to  felony,  two-thirds  in 
number  of  the  jury  may  render  a  verdict,  and  such  verdict  so  rendered 
shall  have  the  same  force  and  effect  as  if  all  of  such  jury  concurred 
therein. 

SEC.  24.  Laws  for  the  punishment  of  crime  shall  be  founded  on  the 
principles  of  reformation  and  prevention,  but  this  shall  not  affect  the  power 
of  the  Legislative  Assembly  to  provide  for  punishing  offences  by  death. 

SEC.  25.  Aliens  and  denizens  shall  have  the  same  right  as  citizens 
to  acquire,  purchase,  possess,  enjoy,  convey,  transmit,  and  inherit  mines 
and  mining  property,  and  milling,  reduction,  concentrating  and  other 
works,  and  real  property  necessary  for  or  connected  with  the  business  of 
mining  and  treating  ores  and  minerals;  Provided,  That  nothing  herein 
contained  shall  be  construed  to  infringe  upon  the  authority  of  the  United 
States  to  provide  for  the  sale  or  disposition  of  its  mineral  and  other  public 
lands. 

SEC.  26.  The  people  shall  have  the  right  peaceably  to  assemble  for 
the  common  good,  and  to  apply  to  those  invested  with  the  powers  of  gov- 
ernment for  redress  of  grievances  by  petition  or  remonstrance. 

SEC.  27.  No  person  shall  be  deprived  of  life,  liberty,  or  property 
without  due  process  of  law. 

SEC.  28.  There  shall  never  be  in  this  State  either  slavery  or  involun- 
tary servitude,  except  as  a  punishment  for  crime,  whereof  the  party  shall 
have  been  duly  convicted. 

SEC.  29.  The  provisions  of  this  Constitution  are  mandatory  and 
prohibitory,  unless  by  express  words  they  are  declared  to  be  otherwise. 

SEC.  30.  The  enumeration  in  this  Constitution  of  certain  rights, 
shall  not  be  construed  to  deny,  impair,  or  disparage  others  retained  by 
the  people. 

SEC.  31.  No  armed  person  or  persons  or  armed  body  of  men  shall  be 
brought  into  this  State  for  the  preservation  of  the  peace  or  the  suppres- 


194  APPENDIX 

sion  of  domestic  violence,  except  upon  the  application  of  the  Legislative 
Assembly,  or  of  the  Governor  when  the  Legislative  Assembly  cannot  be 
convened. 

ARTICLE  IV. —  DISTRIBUTION  OF  POWERS. 

SECTION  1.  The  powers  of  the  government  of  this  State  are  divided 
into  three  distinct  departments:  The  Legislative,  Executive,  and  Judicial, 
and  no  person  or  collection  of  persons  charged  with  the  exercise  of  powers 
properly  belonging  to  one  of  these  departments  shall  exercise  any  powers 
properly  belonging  to  either  of  the  others,  except  as  in  this  Constitution 
expressly  directed  or  permitted. 

ARTICLE  V. —  LEGISLATIVE  DEPARTMENT. 

SECTION  1.  The  legislative  power  shall  be  vested  in  a  Senate  and 
House  of  Representatives,  which  shall  be  designated,  "The  Legislative 
Assembly  of  the  State  of  Montana." 

SEC.  2.  Senators  shall  be  elected  for  the  term  of  four  years,  and  Rep- 
resentatives for  the  term  of  two  years,  except  as  otherwise  provided 
in  this  Constitution. 

SEC.  3.  No  person  shall  be  a  Representative  who  shall  not  have 
attained  the  age  of  twenty-one  years,  or  a  Senator  who  shall  not  have 
attained  the  age  of  twenty-four  years,  and  who  shall  not  be  a  citizen  of  the 
United  States,  and  who  shall  not  (for  at  least  twelve  months  next  preceding 
his  election)  have  resided  within  the  county  or  district  in  which  he  shall 
be  elected. 

SEC.  4.  The  Legislative  Assembly  of  this  State,  until  otherwise  pro- 
vided by  law,  shall  consist  of  sixteen  members  of  the  Senate,  and  fifty-five 
members  of  the  House  of  Representatives. 

It  shall  be  the  duty  of  the  first  Legislative  Assembly  to  divide  the 
State  into  senatorial  and  representative  districts,  but  there  shall  be  no 
more  than  one  Senator  from  each  county.  The  Senators  shall  be  divided 
into  two  classes.  Those  elected  from  odd-numbered  districts  shall  con- 
stitute one  class,  and  those  elected  from  even-numbered  districts  shall 
constitute  the  other  class;  and  when  any  additional  Senator  shall  be 
provided  for  by  law  his  class  shall  be  determined  by  lot. 

One-half  of  the  Senators  elected  to  the  first  Legislative  Assembly 
shall  hold  office  for  one  year,  and  the  other  half  for  three  years;  and  it 
shall  be  determined  by  lot  immediately  after  the  organization  of  the 


APPENDIX  195 

Senate,  whether  the  Senators  from  the  odd-  or  even-numbered  districts 
shall  hold  for  one  or  three  years. 

SEC.  5.  Each  member  of  the  first  Legislative  Assembly,  as  a  com- 
pensation for  his  services,  shall  receive  six  dollars  for  each  day's  attend- 
ance, and  twenty  cents  for  each  mile  necessarily  travelled  in  going  to  and 
returning  from  the  seat  of  government  to  his  residence  by  the  usually 
travelled  route,  and  shall  receive  no  other  compensation,  perquisite,  or 
allowance  whatsoever. 

No  session  of  the  Legislative  Assembly,  after  the  first,  which  may  be 
ninety  days,  shall  exceed  sixty  days. 

After  the  first  session,  the  compensation  of  the  members  of  the 
Legislative  Assembly  shall  be  as  provided  by  law;  Provided,  That 
no  Legislative  Assembly  shall  fix  its  own  compensation. 

SEC.  6.  The  Legislative  Assembly,  except  the  first,  shall  meet  at  the 
seat  of  government  at  twelve  o'clock,  noon,  on  the  first  Monday  of  January, 
next  succeeding  the  general  election  provided  by  law,  and  at  twelve  o'clock, 
noon,  on  the  first  Monday  of  January,  of  each  alternate  year  thereafter, 
and  at  other  times  when  convened  by  the  Governor. 

The  term  of  service  of  the  members  thereof  shall  begin  the  next  day 
after  their  election,  until  otherwise  provided  by  law;  Provided,  That  the 
first  Legislative  Assembly  shall  meet  at  the  seat  of  government  upon  the 
proclamation  of  the  Governor  after  the  admission  of  the  State  into 
the  Union,  upon  a  day  to  be  named  in  said  proclamation,  and  which  shall 
not  be  more  than  fifteen  nor  less  than  ten  days  after  the  admission  of  the 
State  into  the  Union. 

SEC.  7.  No  Senator  or  Representative  shall,  during  the  term  for 
which  he  shall  have  been  elected,  be  appointed  to  any  civil  office  under 
the  State;  and  no  member  of  Congress,  or  other  person  holding  an  office 
(except  Notary  Public,  or  in  the  militia)  under  the  United  States  or  this 
State,  shall  be  a  member  of  either  house  during  his  continuance  in  office. 

SEC.  8.  No  member  of  either  house  shall,  during  the  term  for  which 
he  shall  have  been  elected,  receive  any  increase  of  salary  or  mileage  under 
any  law  passed  during  such  term. 

SEC.  9.  The  Senate  shall,  at  the  beginning  and  close  of  each  regular 
session,  and  at  such  other  times  as  may  be  necessary,  elect  one  of  its  mem- 
bers President,  pro  tempore.  The  House  of  Representatives  shall  elect 
one  of  its  members  Speaker.  Each  house  shall  choose  its  other  officers, 
and  shall  judge  of  the  elections,  returns,  and  qualifications  of  its  mem' 
bers. 


196  APPENDIX 

SEC.  10.  A  majority  of  each  house  shall  constitute  a  quorum  to  do 
business,  but  a  smaller  number  may  adjourn  from  day  to  day,  and  compel 
the  attendance  of  absent  members  in  such  manner  and  under  such  pen- 
alties as  each  house  may  prescribe. 

SEC.  11.  Each  house  shall  have  power  to  determine  the  rules  of  its 
proceedings,  and  punish  its  members  or  other  persons  for  contempt  or 
disorderly  behavior  in  its  presence;  to  protect  its  members  against  violence 
or  offers  of  bribe  or  private  solicitation;  and  with  the  concurrence  of 
two-thirds,  to  expel  a  member,  and  shall  have  all  other  powers  necessary 
for  the  Legislative  Assembly  of  a  free  State. 

A  member  expelled  for  corruption  shall  not  thereafter  be  eligible  to 
either  house  of  the  Legislative  Assembly;  and  punishment  for  contempt 
or  disorderly  behavior  shall  not  bar  a  criminal  prosecution  for  the  same 
offence. 

SEC.  12.  Each  house  shall  keep  a  journal  of  its  proceedings  and 
may,  in  its  discretion,  from  time  to  time,  publish  the  same,  except  such 
parts  as  require  secrecy,  and  the  ayes  and  noes  on  any  question,  shall,  at 
the  request  of  any  two  members,  be  entered  on  the  journal. 

SEC.  13.  The  sessions  of  each  house  and  of  the  committees  of  the 
whole  shall  be  open,  unless  the  business  is  such  as  requires  secrecy. 

SEC.  14.  Neither  house  shall,  without  the  consent  of  the  other, 
adjourn  for  more  than  three  days,  nor  to  any  other  place  than  that  in 
which  the  two  houses  shall  be  sitting. 

SEC.  15.  The  members  of  the  Legislative  Assembly  shall,  in  all 
cases,  except  treason,  felony,  violation  of  their  oath  of  office,  and  breach 
of  the  peace,  be  privileged  from  arrest  during  their  attendance  at  the 
sessions  of  their  respective  houses,  and  in  going  to  and  returning  from 
the  same;  and  for  any  speech  or  debate  in  either  house  they  shall  not  be 
questioned  in  any  other  place. 

SEC.  16.  The  sole  power  of  impeachment  shall  vest  in  the  House  of 
Representatives;  the  concurrence  of  a  majority  of  all  the  members  being 
necessary  to  the  exercise  thereof.  Impeachment  shall  be  tried  by  the 
Senate  sitting  for  that  purpose,  and  the  Senators  shall  be  upon  oath  or 
affirmation  to  do  justice  according  to  law  and  evidence.  When  the 
Governor  or  Lieutenant  Governor  is  on  trial,  the  Chief  Justice  of  the 
Supreme  Court  shall  preside.  No  person  shall  be  convicted  without  a 
concurrence  of  two-thirds  of  the  Senators  elected. 

SEC.  17.  The  Governor  and  other  State  and  judicial  officers,  except 
justices  of  the  peace,  shall  be  liable  to  impeachment  for  high  crimes  and 


APPENDIX  197 

misdemeanors,  or  malfeasance  in  office,  but  judgment  in  such  cases  shall 
only  extend  to  removal  from  office  and  disqualification  to  hold  any  office 
of  honor,  trust,  or  profit  under  the  laws  of  the  State.  The  party,  whether 
convicted  or  acquitted,  shall,  nevertheless,  be  liable  to  prosecution,  trial, 
judgment,  and  punishment  according  to  law. 

SEC.  18.  All  officers  not  liable  to  impeachment  shall  be  subject  to 
removal  for  miconduct  or  malfeasance  in  office,  in  such  manner  as  may 
be  provided  by-law. 

SEC.  19.  No  law  shall  be  passed  except  by  bill,  and  no  bill  shall  be 
so  altered  or  amended  on  its  passage  through  either  House  as  to  change 
its  original  purpose. 

SEC.  20.  The  enacting  clause  of  every  law  shall  be  as  follows:  "Be 
it  enacted  by  the  Legislative  Assembly,  of  the  State  of  Montana." 

SEC.  21.  No  bill  for  the  appropriation  of  money,  except  for  the 
expenses  of  the  government,  shall  be  introduced  within  ten  days  of  the 
close  of  the  session,  except  by  unanimous  consent  of  the  house  in  which 
it  is  sought  to  be  introduced. 

SEC.  22.  No  bill  shall  be  considered  or  become  a  law  unless  referred 
to  a  committee,  returned  therefrom,  and  printed  for  the  use  of  the  mem- 
bers. 

SEC.  23.  No  bill,  except  general  appropriation  bills,  and  bills  for 
the  codification  and  general  revision  of  the  laws,  shall  be  passed  containing 
more  than  one  subject,  which  shall  be  clearly  expressed  in  its  title;  but 
if  any  subject  shall  be  embraced  in  any  act  which  shall  not  be  expressed 
in  the  title,  such  act  shall  be  void  only  as  to  so  much  thereof  as  shall  not 
be  so  expressed. 

SEC.  24.  No  bill  shall  become  a  law  except  by  a  vote  of  a  majority 
of  all  the  members  present  in  each  house,  nor  unless  on  its  final  passage, 
the  vote  be  taken  by  ayes  and  noes,  and  the  names  of  those  voting  be 
entered  on  the  journal. 

SEC.  25.  No  law  shall  be  revised  or  amended,  or  the  provisions 
thereof  extended,  by  reference  to  its  title  only,  but  so  much  thereof  as  is 
revised,  amended,  or  extended  shall  be  re-enacted  and  published  at  length. 

SEC.  26.  The  Legislative  Assembly  shall  not  pass  local  or  special 
laws  in  any  of  the  following  enumerated  cases,  that  is  to  say:  For  granting 
divorces;  laying  out,  opening,  altering,*OF  working  roads  or  highways; 
vacating  roads,  town  plats,  streets,  alleys,  or  public  grounds;  locating  or 
changing  county  seats;  regulating  county  or  township  affairs;  regulating 
the  practice  in  courts  of  justice;  regulating  the  jurisdiction  and  duties 


198  APPENDIX 

of  justices  of  the  peace,  police  magistrates,  or  constables;  changing  the 
rules  of  evidence  in  any  trial  or  inquiry;  providing  for  changes  of  venue 
in  civil  or  criminal  cases;  declaring  any  person  of  age;  for  limitation  of 
civil  actions,  or  giving  effect  to  informal  or  invalid  deeds;  summoning 
or  impanelling  grand  or  petit  juries;  providing  for  the  management  of 
common  schools;  regulating  the  rate  of  interest  on  money;  the  opening  or 
conducting  of  any  election  or  designating  the  place  of  voting;  the  sale  or 
mortgage  of  real  estate  belonging  to  minors  or  others  under  disability; 
chartering  or  licensing  ferries  or  bridges  or  toll  roads;  chartering  banks, 
insurance  companies,  and  loan  and  trust  companies;  remitting  fines, 
penalties,  or  forfeitures;  creating,  increasing,  or  decreasing  fees,  per- 
centages, or  allowances  of  public  officers;  changing  the  law  of  descent; 
granting  to  any  corporation,  association,  or  individual  the  right  to  lay 
down  railroad  tracks,  or  any  special  or  exclusive  privilege,  immunity,  or 
franchise  whatever;  for  the  punishment  of  crimes;  changing  the  names 
of  persons  or  places;  for  the  assessment  or  collection  of  taxes;  affecting 
estates  of  deceased  persons,  minors,  or  others  under  legal  disabilities; 
extending  the  time  for  the  collection  of  taxes;  refunding  money  paid  into 
the  State  treasury;  relinquishing  or  extinguishing  in  whole  or  in  part  the 
indebtedness,  liability,  or  obligation  of  any  corporation  or  person  to  this 
State,  or  to  any  municipal  corporation  therein;  exempting  property  from 
taxation;  restoring  to  citizenship  persons  convicted  of  infamous  crimes; 
authorizing  the  creation,  extension,  or  impairing  of  liens;  creating  offices, 
or  prescribing  the  powers  or  duties  of  officers  in  counties,  cities,  township 
or  school  districts;  or  authorizing  the  adoption  or  legitimation  of  children. 
In  all  other  cases  where  a  general  law  can  be  made  applicable,  no  special 
law  shall  be  enacted. 

SEC.  27.  The  presiding  officer  of  each  house  shall,  in  the  presence 
of  the  house  over  which  he  presides,  sign  all  bills  and  joint  resolutions 
passed  by  the  Legislative  Assembly,  immediately  after  their  titles  have 
been  publicly  read,  and  the  fact  of  signing  shall  be  at  once  entered  upon 
the  journal. 

SEC.  28.  The  Legislative  Assembly  shall  prescribe  by  law  the  number, 
duties,  and  compensation  of  the  officers  and  employees  of  each  house; 
and  no  payment  shall  be  made  from  the  State  treasury,  or  be  in  any  way 
authorized  to  any  such  person,  except  to  an  acting  officer  or  employee 
elected  or  appointed  in  pursuance  of  law. 

SEC.  29.  No  bill  shall  be  passed  giving  any  extra  compensation  to 
any  public  officer,  servant  or  employee,  agent  or  contractor,  after  services 


APPENDIX  199 

shall  have  been  rendered  or  contract  made,  nor  providing  for  the  payment 
of  any  claim  made  against  the  State,  without  previous  authority  of  law, 
except  as  may  be  otherwise  provided  herein. 

SEC.  30.  All  stationery,  printing,  paper,  fuel,  and  lights  used  in  the 
legislative  and  other  departments  of  government,  shall  be  furnished,  and 
the  printing  and  binding  and  distribution  of  the  laws,  journals,  and 
department  reports  and  other  printing  and  binding,  and  the  repairing 
and  furnishing  the  halls  and  rooms  used  for  the  meeting  of  the  Legislative 
Assembly,  and  its  committees,  shall  be  performed  under  contract,  to  be 
given  to  the  lowest  responsible  bidder,  below  such  maximum  price  and 
under  such  regulations  as  may  be  prescribed  by  law.  No  member  or 
officer  of  the  government  shall  be  in  any  way  interested  in  any  such  con- 
tract; and  all  such  contracts  shall  be  subject  to  the  approval  of  the  Gov- 
ernor and  State  Treasurer. 

SEC.  31.  Except  as  otherwise  provided  in  this  Constitution,  no  law 
shall  extend  the  term  of  any  public  officer,  or  increase  or  diminish  his 
salary  or  emolument  after  his  election  or  appointment;  Provided,  That 
this  shall  not  be  construed  to  forbid  the  Legislative  Assembly  from  fixing 
the  salaries  or  emoluments  of  those  officers  first  elected  or  appointed 
under  this  Constitution,  where  such  salaries  or  emoluments  are  not  fixed 
by  this  Constitution. 

SEC.  32.  All  bills  for  raising  revenue  shall  originate  in  the  House  of 
Representatives;  but  the  Senate  may  propose  amendments,  as  in  the  case 
of  other  bills. 

SEC.  33.  The  general  appropriation  bills  shall  embrace  nothing  but 
appropriations  for  the  ordinary  expenses  of  the  legislative,  executive,  and 
judicial  departments  of  the  State,  interest  on  the  public  debt,  and  for 
public  schools.  All  other  appropriations  shall  be  made  by  separate  bills, 
each  embracing  but  one  subject. 

SEC.  34.  No  money  shall  be  paid  out  of  the  treasury  except  upon 
appropriations  made  by  law,  and  on  warrant  drawn  by  the  proper  officer 
in  pursuance  thereof,  except  interest  on  the  public  debt. 

SEC.  35.  No  appropriation  shall  be  made  for  charitable,  industrial, 
educational,  or  benevolent  purposes  to  any  person,  corporation,  or  com- 
munity no't  under  the  absolute  control  of  the  State,  nor  to  any  denomi- 
national or  sectarian  institution  or  association. 

SEC.  36.  The  Legislative  Assembly  shall  not  delegate  to  any  special 
commission,  private  coporation,  or  association,  any  power  to  make,  super- 
vise, or  interfere  with  any  municipal  improvements,  money,  property,  or 


200  APPENDIX 

effects,  whether  held  in  trust  or  otherwise,  or  to  levy  taxes,  or  to  perform 
any  municipal  functions  whatever. 

SEC.  37.  No  act  of  the  Legislative  Assembly  shall  authorize  the 
investment  of  trust  funds  by  executors,  administrators,  guardians,  or 
trustees  in  the  bonds  or  stock  of  any  private  corporation. 

SEC.  38.  The  Legislative  Assembly  shall  have  no  power  to  pass  any 
law  authorizing  the  State,  or  any  county  in  the  State,  to  contract  any  debt 
or  obligation  in  the  construction  of  any  railroad,  nor  give  or  loan  its  credit 
to,  or  in  aid  of,  the  construction  of  the  same. 

SEC.  39.  No  obligation  or  liability  of  any  person,  association,  or 
corporation,  held  or  owned  by  the  State,  or  any  municipal  corporation 
therein,  shall  ever  be  exchanged,  transferred,  remitted,  released,  or  post- 
poned, or  in  any  way  diminished  by  the  Legislative  Assembly;  nor  shall 
such  liability  or  obligation  be  extinguished,  except  by  the  payment  thereof 
into  the  proper  treasury. 

SEC.  40.  JSvery  order,  resolution,  or  vote,  in  which  the  concurrence  of 
both  houses  may  be  necessary,  except  on  the  question  of  adjournment,  or 
relating  solely  to  the  transaction  of  the  business  of  the  two  houses,  shall 
be  presented  to  the  Governor,  and  before  it  shall  take  effect  be  approved 
by  him,  or,  being  disapproved,  be  repassed  by  two-thirds  of  both  houses, 
as  prescribed  in  the  case  of  a  bill. 

SEC.  41.  If  any  person  elected  to  either  house  of  the  Legislative 
Assembly  shall  offer  or  promise  to  give  his  vote  or  influence  in  favor  of  or 
against  any  measure  or  proposition,  pending  or  proposed  to  be  introduced 
into  the  Legislative  Assembly,  in  consideration  or  upon  condition  that  any 
other  person  elected  to  the  same  Legislative  Assembly  will  give,  or  will 
promise  or  assent  to  give,  his  vote  or  influence,  in  favor  of  or  against  any 
other  measure  or  proposition  pending  or  proposed  to  be  introduced  into 
such  Legislative  Assembly,  the  person  making  such  offer  or  promise  shall 
be  deemed  guilty  of  solicitation  of  bribery.  If  any  member  of  the  Legis- 
lative Assembly  shall  give  his  vote  or  influence  for  or  against  any  measure 
or  proposition  pending  or  proposed  to  be  introduced  in  such  Legislative 
Assembly,  or  offer,  promise,  or  assent  so  to,  upon  condition  that  any  other 
member  will  give,  or  will  promise  or  assent  to  give,  his  vote  or  influence 
in  favor  of  or  against  any  other  measure  or  proposition  pending  or  pro- 
posed to  be  introduced  in  such  Legislative  Assembly,  or  in  consideration 
that  any  other  member  hath  given  his  vote  or  influence  for  or  against  any 
other  measure  or  proposition  in  such  Legislative  Assembly,  he  shall  be 
deemed  guilty  of  bribery,  and  any  member  of  the  Legislative  Assembly,  or 


APPENDIX  201 

person  elected  thereto,  who  shall  be  guilty  of  either  such  offences,  shall  be 
expelled  and  shall  not  thereafter  be  eligible  to  the  Legislative  Assembly, 
and  on  the  conviction  thereof  in  the  civil  courts,  shall  be  liable  to  such 
further  penalty  as  may  be  prescribed  by  law. 

SEC.  42.  Any  person  who  shall  directly  or  indirectly  offer,  give,  or 
promise  any  money  or  thing  of  value,  testimonial,  privilege,  or  personal 
advantage,  to  any  executive  or  judicial  officer  or  member  of  the  Legislative 
Assembly,  to  influence  him  in  the  performance  of  any  of  his  official  or 
public  duties,  shall  be  deemed  guilty  of  bribery,  and  be  punished  in  such 
manner  as  shall  be  provided  b}^  law. 

SEC.  43.  The  offence  of  corrupt  solicitation  of  members  of  the  Legis- 
lative Assembly,  or  of  public  officers  of  the  State,  or  of  any  municipal 
division  thereof,  and  the  occupation  or  practice  of  solicitation  of  such 
members  or  officers,  to  influence  their  official  action,  shall  be  defined  by 
law,  and  shall  be  punishable  by  fine  and  imprisonment. 

SEC.  44.  A  member  who  has  a  personal  or  private  interest  in  any 
measure  or  bill  proposed  or  pending  before  the  Legislative  Assembly  shall 
disclose  the  fact  to  the  house  of  which  he  is  a  member,  and  shall  not  vote 
thereon. 

SEC.  45.  When  vacancies  occur  in  either  house  the  Governor,  or  the 
person  exercising  the  functions  of  the  Governor,  shall  issue  writs  of  elec- 
tion to  fill  the  same. 

ARTICLE  VI. —  APPORTIONMENT  AND  REPRESENTATION. 

SECTION  1.  One  Representative  in  the  Congress  of  the  United  States 
shall  be  elected  from  the  State  at  large,  the  first  Tuesday  in  October,  1889, 
and  thereafter  at  such  times  and  places,  and  in  such  manner,  as  may  be 
prescribed  by  law.  When  a  new  apportionment  shall  be  made  by  Con- 
gress the  Legislative  Assembly  shall  divide  the  State  into  congressional 
districts  accordingly. 

SEC.  2.  The  Legislative  Assembly  shall  provide  by  law  for  an  enu- 
meration of  the  inhabitants  of  the  State  in  the  year  1895  and  every  tenth 
year  thereafter;  and  at  the  session  next  following  such  enumeration,  and 
also  at  the  session  next  following  an  enumeration  made  by  the  authority 
of  the  United  States,  shall  revise  and  adjust  the  apportionment  for  Rep- 
resentatives on  the  basis  of  such  enumeration,  according  to  ratios  to  be 
fixed  by  law. 

SEC.  3.  Representative  districts  may  be  altered  from  time  to  time 
as  public  convenience  may  require.  When  a  Representative  district 


202  APPENDIX 

shall  be  composed  of  two  or  more  counties,  they  shall  be  contiguous,  and 
the  districts  as  compact  as  may  be.  No  county  shall  be  divided  in  the 
formation  of  Representative  districts. 

SEC.  4.  Whenever  new  counties  are  created,  each  of  said  counties 
shall  be  entitled  to  one  Senator,  but  in  no  case  shall  a  Senatorial  district 
consist  of  more  than  one  county. 

SEC.  5.  The  Senatorial  districts  of  the  State  shall  be  constituted  and 
numbered  as  follows: 

(Here  follows  a  list  of  the  counties  in  the  State  with  the  number  of 
Senators  to  which  each  is  entitled.) 

ARTICLE  VII. —  EXECUTIVE  DEPARTMENT. 

SECTION  1.  The  Executive  department  shall  consist  of  a  Governor, 
Lieutenant  Governor,  Secretary  of  State,  Attorney  General,  State  Treas- 
urer, State  Auditor,  and  Superintendent  of  Public  Instruction,  each  of 
whom  shall  hold  his  office  for  four  years,  or  until  his  successor  is  elected 
and  qualified,  beginning  on  the  first  Monday  of  January  next  succeeding 
his  election,  except  that  the  terms  of  office  of  those  who  are  elected  at  the 
first  election  shall  begin  when  the  State  shall  be  admitted  into  the  Union, 
and  shall  end  on  the  first  Monday  of  January,  A.  D.  1893.  The  officers 
of  the  Executive  department,  excepting  the  Lieutenant  Governor,  shall 
during  their  terms  of  office  reside  at  the  seat  of  government,  where  they 
shall  keep  the  public  records,  books,  and  papers.  They  shall  perform 
such  duties  as  are  prescribed  in  this  Constitution  and  by  the  laws  of  the 
State.  The  State  Treasurer  shall  not  be  eligible  to  his  office  for  the  suc- 
ceeding term. 

SEC.  2.  The  officers  provided  for  in  Section  1  of  this  Article  shall  be 
elected  by  the  qualified  electors  of  the  State  at  the  time  and  place  of  voting 
for  members  of  the  Legislative  Assembly,  and  the  persons  respectively 
having  the  highest  number  of  votes  for  the  office  voted  for  shall  be  elected; 
but  if  two  or  more  shall  have  an  equal  and  the  highest  number  of  votes  for 
any  one  of  said  offices,  the  two  houses  of  the  Legislative  Assembly,  at  its 
next  regular  session,  shall  forthwith,  by  joint  ballot,  elect  one  of  such 
persons  for  said  office.  The  returns  of  election  for  the  officers  named  in 
Section  1  shall  be  made  in  such  manner  as  may  be  prescribed  by  law,  and 
all  contested  elections  of  the  same,  other  than  provided  for  in  this  Section, 
shall  be  determined  as  may  be  prescribed  by  law. 

SEC.  3.  No  person  shall  be  eligible  to  the  office  of  Governor,  Lieu- 
tenant Governor,  or  Superintendent  of  Public  Instruction,  unless  he  shall 


APPENDIX  203 

have  attained  the  age  of  thirty  years  at  the  time  of  his  election,  nor  to  the 
office  of  Secretary  of  State,  State  Auditor,  or  State  Treasurer,  unless  he 
shall  have  attained  the  age  of  twenty-five  years,  nor  to  the  office  of  Attorney 
General,  unless  he  shall  have  attained  the  age  of  thirty  years,  and  have 
been  admitted  to  practice  in  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  State,  or  Territory 
of  Montana,  and  be  in  good  standing  at  the  time  of  his  election.  In 
addition  to  the  qualifications  above  prescribed,  each  of  the  officers  named 
shall  be  a  citizen  of  the  United  States,  and  have  resided  within  the  State 
or  Territory  two  years  next  preceding  his  election. 

SEC.  4.  Until  otherwise  provided  by  law,  the  Governor,  Secretary 
of  State,  State  Auditor,  Treasurer,  Attorney  General,  and  Superintendent 
of  Public  Instruction,  shall  quarterly  as  due,  during  their  continuance  in 
office,  receive  for  their  services  compensation,  which  is  fixed  as  follows: 

Governor,  five  thousand  dollars  per  annum; 

Secretary  of  State,  three  thousand  dollars  per  annum; 

Attorney  General,  three  thousand  dollars  per  annum; 

State  Treasurer,  three  thousand  dollars  per  annum; 

State  Auditor,  three  thousand  dollars  per  annum; 

Superintendent  of  Public  Instruction,  two  thousand  five  hundred 
dollars  per  annum. 

The  Lieutenant  Governor  shall  receive  the  same  per  diem  as  may  be 
prescribed  by  law  for  the  Speaker  of  the  Legislative  Assembly,  to  be 
allowed  only  during  the  sessions  of  the  Legislative  Assembly. 

The  compensation  enumerated  shall  be  in  full  for  all  services  by  said 
officers,  respectively  rendered  in  any  official  capacity  or  employment 
whatever  during  their  respective  terms  of  office,  and  the  salary  of  no 
official  shall  be  increased  during  his  term  of  office.  No  officer  named  in 
this  Section  shall  receive,  for  the  performance  of  any  official  duty,  any 
fee  for  his  own  use,  but  all  fees  fixed  by  law  for  the  performance  by  any 
officer  of  any  official  duty,  shall  be  collected  in  advance,  and  deposited 
with  the  State  Treasurer  quarterly  to  the  credit  of  the  State.  No  officer 
mentioned  in  this  Section  shall  be  eligible  to,  or  hold,  any  other  public 
office,  except  member  of  the  State  Board  of  Education,  during  his  term 
of  office. 

SEC.  5.  The  supreme  executive  power  of  the  State  shall  be  vested  in 
the  Governor,  who  shall  see  that  the  laws  are  faithfully  executed. 

SEC.  6.  The  Governor  shall  be  Commander-in-Chief  of  the  militia 
forces  of  the  State,  except  when  these  forces  are  in  the  actual  service  of  the 
United  States,  and  shall  have  power  to  call  out  any  part  or  the  whole,  of 


204  APPENDIX 

« 

said  forces  to  aid  in  the  execution  of  the  laws,  to  suppress  insurrection,  or 
to  repel  invasion. 

SEC.  7.  The  Governor  shall  nominate,  and  by  and  with  the  consent 
of  the  Senate  appoint,  all  officers  whose  offices  are  established  by  this 
Constitution,  or  which  may  be  created  by  law,  and  whose  appointment  or 
election  is  not  otherwise  provided  for.  If  during  a  recess  of  the  Senate 
a  vacancy  occur  in  any  such  office,  the  Governor  shall  appoint  some  fit 
person  to  discharge  the  duties  thereof  until  the  next  meeting  of  the  Senate, 
when  he  shall  nominate  some  person  to  fill  such  office.  If  the  office  of 
Secretary  of  State,  State  Auditor,  State  Treasurer,  Attorney  General,  or 
Superintendent  of  Public  Instruction  shall  be  vacated  by  death,  resigna- 
tion, or  otherwise,  it  shall  be  the  duty  of  the  Governor  to  fill  the  same  by 
appointment,  and  the  appointee  shall  hold  his  office  until  his  successor 
shall  be  elected  and  qualified. 

SEC.  8.  The  Legislative  Assembly  shall  provide  for  a  State  Exam- 
iner, who  shall  be  appointed  by  the  Governor  and  confirmed  by  the 
Senate.  His  duty  shall  be  to  examine  the  accounts  of  State  Treasurer, 
Supreme  Court  Clerks,  District  Court  Clerks,  arid  all  County  Treasurers, 
and  Treasurers  of  such  other  public  institutions  as  may  be  prescribed  by 
law,  and  he  shall  perform  such  other  duties  as  the  Legislative  Assembly 
may  prescribe.  He  shall  report  at  least  once  a  year,  and  oftener  if  re- 
quired, to  such  officers  as  may  be  designated  by  the  Legislative  Assembly. 
His  compensation  shall  be  fixed  by  law. 

SEC.  9.  The  Governor  shall  have  the  power  to  grant  pardons,  abso- 
lute and  conditional,  and  to  remit  fines  and  forfeitures,  and  to  grant  com- 
mutation of  punishments  and  respites  after  conviction  and  judgment  for 
any  offences  committed  against  the  criminal  laws  of  this  State;  Provided 
however,  That  before  granting  pardons,  remitting  fines  and  forfeitures,  or 
commuting  punishments,  the  action  of  the  Governor  concerning  the  same 
shall  be  approved  by  a  Board,  or  a  majority  thereof,  composed  of  the 
Secretary  of  State,  Attorney  General,  and  State  Auditor,  who  shall  be 
known  as  the  Board  of  Pardons.  The  Legislative  Assembly  shall  by  law 
prescribe  the  sessions  of  said  Board,  and  regulate  the  proceedings  thereof. 
But  no  fine  or  forfeitures  shall  be  remitted,  and  no  commutation  or  pardon 
granted,  except  upon  the  approval  of  a  majority  of  said  Board,  after  a  full 
hearing  in  open  session,  and  until  notice  of  the  time  and  place  of  such 
hearing,  and  of  the  relief  sought,  shall  have  been  given  by  publication  in 
some  newspaper  of  general  circulation  in  the  county  where  the  crime  was 
committed,  at  least  once  a  week  for  two  weeks.  The  proceedings  and 


APPENDIX  205 

decisions  of  the  Board  shall  be  reduced  to  writing,  and,  with  their  reasons 
for  their  action  in  each  case,  and  the  dissent  of  any  member  who  may 
disagree,  signed  by  them  and  filed,  with  all  papers  used  upon  the  hearing, 
in  the  office  of  the  Secretary  of  State.  The  Governor  shall  communicate 
to  the  Legislative  Assembly,  at  each  regular  session,  each  case  of  remis- 
sion of  fine  or  forfeiture,  reprieve,  commutation,  or  pardon  granted  since 
the  last  previous  report,  stating  the  name  of  the  convict,  the  crime  of  which 
he  was  convicted,  the  sentence  and  its  date,  and  the  date  of  remission, 
commutation,  pardon,  or  reprieve,  with  the  reasons  for  granting  the  same 
and  the  objections,  if  any,  of  any  member  of  the  Board  made  thereto. 

SEC.  10.  The  Governor  may  require  information  in  writing  from  the 
officers  of  the  Executive  department  upon  any  subject  relating  to  the 
duties  of  their  respective  offices,  which  information  shall  be  given  upon 
oath  whenever  so  required;  he  may  also  require  information  in  writing, 
at  any  time,  under  oath,  from  all  officers  and  managers  of  State  institu- 
tions, upon  any  subject  relating  to  the  condition,  management,  and  ex- 
penses of  their  respective  offices  and  institutions,  and  may,  at  any  time  he 
deems  it  necessary,  appoint  a  committee  to  investigate  and  report  to  him 
upon  the  condition  of  any  executive  office  or  State  institution.  The  Gov- 
ernor shall,  at  the  beginning  of  each  session,  and  from  time  to  time,  by 
message,  give  to  the  Legislative  Assembly  information  of  the  State,  and 
shall  recommend  such  measures  as  he  shall  deem  expedient.  He  shall 
also  send  to  the  Legislative  Assembly  a  statement  with  vouchers  of  the 
expenditures  of  all  moneys  belonging  to  the  State  and  paid  out  by  him. 
He  shall  also  at  the  beginning  of  each  session  present  estimates  of  the 
amount  of  money  required  to  be  raised  by  taxation  for  all  purposes  of  the 
State. 

SEC.  11.  He  may  on  extraordinary  occasions  convene  the  Legis- 
lative Assembly  by  proclamation,  stating  the  purposes  for  which  it  is  con- 
vened; but  when  so  convened,  it  shall  have  no  power  to  legislate  on  any 
subjects  other  than  those  specified  in  the  proclamation,  or  which  may  be 
recommended  by  the  Governor,  but  may  provide  for  the  expenses  of  the 
session  and  other  matters  incidental  thereto.  He  may  also,  by  proclama- 
tion, convene  the  Senate  in  extraordinary  session  for  the  transaction  of 
Executive  business. 

SEC.  12.  Every  bill  passed  by  the  Legislative  Assembly  shall,  before 
it  becomes  a  law,  be  presented  to  the  Governor.  If  he  approve,  he  shall 
sign  it,  and  thereupon  it  shall  become  a  law;  but  if  he  do  not  approve,  he 
shall  return  it,  with  his  objections,  to  the  house  in  which  it  originated, 


206  APPENDIX 

which  house  shall  enter  the  objections  at  large  upon  its  journal,  and 
proceed  to  reconsider  the  bill.  If  then  two-thirds  of  the  members  present 
agree  to  pass  the  same,  it  shall  be  sent,  together  with  the  objections,  to  the 
other  house,  by  which  it  shall  likewise  be  reconsidered,  and  if  approved 
by  two-thirds  of  the  members  present  in  that  house,  it  shall  become  a  law 
notwithstanding  the  objections  of  the  Governor.  In  all  such  cases  the 
vote  of  each  house  shall  be  determined  by  yeas  and  nays,  to  be  entered 
on  the  journal.  If  any  bill  shall  not  be  returned  by  the  Governor  within 
five  days  (Sundays  excepted)  after  it  shall  have  been  presented  to  him,  the 
same  shall  be  a  law,  in  like  manner  as  if  he  had  signed  it,  unless  the  Legis- 
lative Assembly  shall,  by  their  adjournment,  prevent  its  return,  in  which 
case  it  shall  not  become  a  law  without  the  approval  of  the  Governor.  No 
bill  shall  become  a  law  after  the  final  adjournment  of  the  Legislative 
Assembly,  unless  approved  by  the  Governor  within  fifteen  days  after  such 
adjournment.  In  case  the  Governor  shall  fail  to  approve  of  any  bill  after 
the  final  adjournment  of  the  Legislative  Assembly,  it  shall  be  filed,  with 
his  objections,  in  the  office  of  the  Secretary  of  State. 

SEC.  13.  The  Governor  shall  have  power  to  disapprove  of  any  item 
or  items  of  any  bill  making  appropriations  of  money,  embracing  distinct 
items,  and  the  part  or  parts  approved  shall  become  a  law,  and  the  item  or 
items  disapproved  shall  be  void,  unless  enacted  in  the  manner  following: 
If  the  Legislative  Assembly  be  in  session  he  shall,  within  five  days,  transmit 
to  the  house  in  which  the  bill  originated,  a  copy  of  the  item  or  items 
thereof  disapproved,  together  with  his  objections  thereto,  and  the  items 
objected  to  shall  be  separately  reconsidered,  and  each  item  shall  take  the 
same  course  as  is  prescribed  for  the  passage  of  bills  over  the  executive  veto. 

SEC.  14.  In  case  of  the  failure  to  qualify,  the  impeachment,  or  con- 
viction of  felony  or  infamous  crime  of  the  Governor,  or  his  death,  removal 
from  office,  resignation,  absence  from  the  State,  or  inability  to  discharge 
the  powers  and  duties  of  his  office,  the  powers,  duties,  and  emoluments  of 
the  office,  for  the  residue  of  the  term,  or  until  the  disability  shall  cease, 
shall  devolve  upon  the  Lieutenant  Governor. 

SEC.  15.  The  Lieutenant  Governor  shall  be  President  of  the  Senate, 
but  shall  vote  only  when  the  Senate  is  equally  divided.  In  case  of  the 
absence  or  disqualification  of  the  Lieutenant  Governor,  from  any  cause 
which  applies  to  the  Governor,  or  when  he  shall  hold  the  office  of 
Governor,  then  the  president  pro  tempore  of  the  Senate  shall  perform  the 
duties  of  the  ^Lieutenant  Governor  until  the  vacancy  is  filled  or  the  dis- 
ability removed. 


APPENDIX  207 

SEC.  16.  In  case  of  the  failure  to  qualify  in  his  office,  death,  resigna- 
tion, absence  from  the  State,  impeachment,  conviction  of  felony  or  in- 
famous crime,  or  disqualification  from  any  cause,  of  both  the  Governor 
and  the  Lieutenant  Governor,  the  duties  of  the  Governor  shall  devolve 
upon  the  president  pro  tempore  of  the  Senate  until  such  disqualification  of 
either  the  Governor  or  Lieutenant  Governor  be  removed,  or  the  vacancy 
filled,  and  ifjthe  president  pro  tempore  of  the  Senate,  for  any  of  the  above- 
named  causes,  shall  become  incapable  of  performing  the  duties  of  Gov- 
ernor, the  same  shall  devolve  upon  the  Speaker  of  the  House. 

SEC.  17.  The  first  Legislative  Assembly  shall  provide  a  seal  for  the 
State,  which  shall  be  kept  by  the  Secretary  of  State  and  used  by  him 
officially,  and  known  as  the  Great  Seal  of  the  State  of  Montana. 

SEC.  18.  All  grants  and  commissions  shall  be  in  the  name  and  by 
the  authority  of  the  State  of  Montana,  sealed  with  the  Great  Seal  of  the 
State,  signed  by  the  Governor,  and  countersigned  by  the  Secretary  of 
State. 

SEC.  19.  An  account  shall  be  kept  by  the  officers  of  the  Executive 
department,  and  of  all  public  institutions  of  the  State, of  all  moneys  received 
by  them,  severally  from  all  sources,  and  for  every  service  performed,  and 
of  all  moneys  disbursed  by  them  severally,  and  a  semi-annual  report 
hereof  shall  be  made  to  the  Governor,  under  oath;  they  shall  also,  at  least 
twenty  days  preceding  each  regular  session  of  the  Legislative  Assembly, 
make  full  and  complete  reports  of  their  official  transactions  to  the  Gov- 
ernor, who  shall  transmit  the  same  to  the  Legislative  Assembly. 

SEC.  20.  The  Governor,  Secretary  of  State,  and  Attorney  General 
shall  constitute  a  Board  of  State  Prison  Commissioners,  wrhich  Board  shall 
have  such  supervision  of  all  matters  connected  with  the  State  prisons  as 
may  be  prescribed  by  law.  They  shall  constitute  a  Board  of  Examiners, 
with  power  to  examine  all  claims  against  the  State,  except  salaries  or  com- 
pensation of  officers  fixed  by  law,  and  perform  such  other  duties  as  may  be 
prescribed  by  law.  And  no  claims  against  the  State,  except  for  salaries 
and  compensation  of  officers  fixed  by  law,  shall  be  passed  upon  by  the 
Legislative  Assembly  without  first  having  been  considered  and  acted  upon 
by  said  Board.  The  Legislative  Assembly  may  provide  for  the  temporary 
suspension  of  the  State  Treasurer  by  the  Governor,  when  the  Board  of 
Kxaminers  deem  such  action  necessary  for  the  protection  of  the  moneys 
of  the  State. 


208  APPENDIX 


ARTICLE  VIII. —  JUDICIAL  DEPARTMENTS. 

SECTION  1.  The  judicial  power  of  the  State  shall  be  vested  in  the 
Senate  sitting  as  a  court  of  impeachment,  in  a  Supreme  Court,  District 
Courts,  Justices  of  the  Peace,  and  such  other  inferior  courts  as  the  Legis- 
lative Assembly  may  establish  in  any  incorporated  city  or  town. 

SEC.  2.  The  Supreme  Court,  except  as  otherwise  provided  in  this 
Constitution,  shall  have  appellate  jurisdiction  only,  which  shall  be  co- 
extensive with  the  State,  and  shall  have  a  general  supervisory  control  over 
all  inferior  courts,  under  such  regulations  and  limitations  as  may  be  pre- 
scribed by  law. 

SEC.  3.  The  appellate  jurisdiction  of  the  Supreme  Court  shall  extend 
to  all  cases  at  law  and  in  equity,  subject,  however,  to  such  limitations  and 
regulations  as  may  be  prescribed  by  law.  Said  court  shall  have  power  in 
its  discretion  to  issue  and  to  hear  and  determine  writs  of  habeas  corpus, 
mandamus,  quo  warranto,  certiorari,  prohibition,  and  injunction,  and  such 
other  original  and  remedial  writs  as  may  be  necessary  or  proper  to  com- 
plete exercise  of  its  appellate  jurisdiction.  When  a  jury  is  required  in  the 
Supreme  Court  to  determine  an  issue  of  fact,  said  court  shall  have  power 
to  summon  such  jury  in  such  manner  as  may  be  provided  by  law.  Each 
of  the  justices  of  the  Supreme  Court  shall  have  power  to  issue  writs  of 
habeas  corpus  to  any  part  of  the  State,  upon  petition  by  or  on  behalf  of, 
any  person  held  in  actual  custody,  and  may  make  such  writs  returnable 
before  himself,  or  the  Supreme  Court,  or  before  any  District  Court  of  the 
State  or  any  judge  thereof,  and  such  writs  may  be  heard  and  determined 
by  the  justice,  or  court,  or  judge,  before  whom  they  are  made  returnable. 
Each  of  the  justices  of  the  Supreme  Court  may  also  issue  and  hear  and 
determine  writs  of  certiorari  in  proceedings  for  contempt  in  the  District 
Court,  and  such  other  writs  as  he  may  be  authorized  by  law  to  issue. 

SEC.  4.  At  least  three  terms  of  the  Supreme  Court  shall  be  held  each 
year  at  the  seat  of  government. 

SEC.  5.*  The  Supreme  Court  shall  consist  of  three  justices,  a  majority 
of  whom  shall  be  necessary  to  form  a  quorum  or  pronounce  a  decision, 
but  one  or  more  of  said  justices  may  adjourn  the  court  from  day  to  day, 
or  to  a  day  certain;  and  the  Legislative  Assembly  shall  have  the  power 
to  increase  the  number  of  said  justices  to  not  less  nor  more  than  five.  In 
case  any  justice  or  justices  of  the  Supreme  Court  shall  be  in  any  way 
disqualified  to  sit  in  a  cause  brought  before  the  court,  the  remaining 

*  Approved  March  7,  1899. 


APPENDIX  209 

justice  or  justices  shall  have  power  to  call  on  one  or  more  of  the  District 
Judges  of  this  State,  as  in  the  particular  case  may  be  necessary,  to  consti- 
tute the  full  number  of  justices  of  which  the  said  court  shall  then  be  com- 
posed, to  sit  with  them  in  the  hearing  of  said  cause.  In  all  cases  where  a 
district  judge  is  invited  to  sit  and  does  sit  as  by  this  Section  provided,  the 
decision  and  the  opinion  of  such  district  judge  shall  have  the  same  force 
and  effect  in  any  cause  heard  before  the  court  as  if  regularly  participated 
in  by  a  justice  of  the  Supreme  Court. 

-   SEC.  6.     The  justices  of  the  Supreme  Court  shall  be  elected  by  electors 
of  the  State  at  large,  as  hereinafter  provided. 

SEC.  7.  The  term  of  office  of  the  justices  of  the  Supreme  Court, 
except  as  in  this  Constitution  otherwise  provided,  shall  be  six  years. 

SEC.  8.  There  shall  be  elected  at  the  first  general  election  provided 
for  by  this  Constitution,  one  chief  justice  and  two  associate  justices  of  the 
Supreme  Court.  At  said  first  election  the  chief  justice  shall  be  elected  to 
hold  his  office  until  the  general  election  in  the  year  one  thousand  eight 
hundred  ninety-two  (1892),  and  one  of  the  associate  justices  to  hold  his 
office  until  the  general  election  in  the  year  one  thousand  eight  hundred 
ninety-four  (1894),  and  the  other  associate  justice  to  hold  his  office  until 
the  general  election  in  the  year  one  thousand  eight  hundred  ninety-six 
(1896),  and  each  shall  hold  until  his  successor  is  elected  and  qualified. 
The  terms  of  office  of  said  justices,  and  which  one  shall  be  chief  justice, 
shall  at  the  first  and  all  subsequent  elections  be  designated  by  ballot. 
After  said  first  election  one  chief  justice  or  one  associate  justice  shall  be 
elected  at  the  general  election  every  two  years,  commencing  in  the  year 
one  thousand  eight  hundred  ninety-two  (1892),  and  if  the  Legislative 
Assembly  shall  increase  the  number  of  justices  to  five,  the  first  terms  of 
office  of  such  additional  justices  shall  be  fixed  by  law  in  such  manner  that 
at  least  one  of  the  five  justices  shall  be  elected  every  two  years.  The 
chief  justice  shall  preside  at  all  sessions  of  the  Supreme  Court,  and  in  case 
of  his  absence,  the  associate  justice  having  the  shortest  term  to  serve  shall 
preside  in  his  stead. 

SEC.  9.  There  shall  be  a  clerk  of  the  Supreme  Court,  who  .shall  hold 
his  office  for  the  term  of  six  years,  except  that  the  clerk  first  elected  shall 
hold  his  office  only  until  the  general  election  in  the  year  one  thousand  eight 
hundred  ninety-two  (1892),  and  until  his  successor  is  elected  and  qualified. 
He  shall  be  elected  by  the  electors  at  large  of  the  State,  and  his  compensa- 
tion shall  be  fixed  by  law,  and  his  duties  prescribed  by  law,  and  by  the 
rules  of  the  Supreme  Court. 


210  APPENDIX 

SEC.  10.  No  person  shall  be  eligible  to  the  office  of  justice  of  the 
Supreme  Court,  unless  he  shall  have  been  admitted  to  practise  law  in  the 
Supreme  Court  of  the  Territory  or  State  of  Montana,  be  at  least  thirty 
years  of  age,  and  a  citizen  of  the  United  States,  nor  unless  he  shall  have 
resided  in  said  Territory  or  State  at  least  two  years  next  preceding  his 
election. 

DISTRICT   COURTS. 

SEC.  11.  The  District  Court  shall  have  original  jurisdiction  in  all 
cases  at  law  and  in  equity  including  all  cases  which  involve  the  title  or 
right  of  possession  of  real  property,  or  the  legality  of  any  tax,  impost, 
assessment,  toll,  or  municipal  fine,  and  in  all  cases  in  which  the  debt, 
damage,  claim,  or  demand,  exclusive  of  interest,  or  the  value  of  the  prop- 
erty in  controversy,  exceeds  fifty  dollars;  and  in  all  criminal  cases  amount- 
ing to  felony,  and  in  all  cases  of  misdemeanor  not  otherwise  provided  for; 
of  actions  of  forcible  entry  and  unlawful  detainer;  of  proceedings  in 
insolvency;  of  actions  to  prevent  or  abate  a  nuisance;  of  all  matters  of 
probate;  of  actions  of  divorce  and  for  annulment  of  marriage,  and  for  all 
such  special  actions  and  proceedings  as  are  not  otherwise  provided  for. 
And  said  courts  shall  have  the  power  of  naturalization,  and  to  issue  papers 
therefor,  in  all  cases  where  they  are  authorized  so  to  do  by  the  laws  of  the 
United  States.  They  shall  have  appellate  jurisdiction  in  such  cases 
arising  in  justices'  and  other  inferior  courts  in  their  respective  districts  as 
may  be  prescribed  by  law,  arid  consistent  with  this  Constitution.  Their 
process  shall  extend  to  all  parts  of  the  State,  provided  that  all  actions  for 
the  recovery  of,  the  possession  of,  quieting  the  title  to,  or  for  the  enforce- 
ment of  liens  upon  real  property,  shall  be  commenced  in  the  county  in 
which  the  real  property,  or  any  part  thereof,  affected  by  such  action  or 
actions,  is  situated.  Said  courts  and  the  judges  thereof  shall  have  power 
also  to  issue,  hear,  and  determine  writs  of  mandamus,  quo  warranto,  cer- 
tiorari,  prohibition,  injunction,  and  other  original  and  remedial  writs,  and 
also  all  writs  of  habeas  corpus  on  petition  by,  or  on  behalf  of,  any  person 
held  in  actual  custody  in  their  respective  districts.  Injunctions,  writs  of 
prohibition  and  habeas  corpus,  may  be  issued  and  served  on  legal  holidays 
and  non-judicial  days. 

SEC.  12.  The  State  shall  be  divided  into  judicial  districts,  in  each  of 
which  there  shall  be  elected  by  the  electors  thereof  one  judge  of  the  District 
Court,  whose  term  of  office  shall  be  four  years,  except  that  the  district 
judges  first  elected  shall  hold  their  offices  only  until  the  general  election  in 


APPENDIX  211 

the  year  one  thousand  eight  hundred  and  ninety-two  (1892),  and  until 
their  successors  are  elected  and  qualified.  Any  judge  of  the  District  Court 
may  hold  court  for  any  other  district  judge,  and  shall  do  so  when  required 
hv  law. 

Six1.  13.  Until  otherwise  provided  by  law  the  judicial  districts  of  the 
State  shall  be  constituted  as  follows;  First  district,  Lewis  and  Clark 
County;  Second  district,  Silver  Bow  County;  Third  district,  Deer  Lodge 
County;  Fourth  district,  Missoula  County;  Fifth  district,  Beaverhead, 
Jefferson,  and  Madison  Counties;  Sixth  district,  Gallatin,  Park,  and 
Meagher  Counties;  Seventh  district,  Yellowstone,  Custer,  and  Dawson 
Counties;  Eighth  district,  Choteau,  Cascade,  and  Fergus  Counties. 

SEC.  14.  The  Legislative  Assembly  may  increase  or  decrease  the 
number  of  judges  in  any  judicial  district;  Provided,  that  there  shall  be  at 
least  one  judge  in  any  district  established  by  law;  and  may  divide  the 
State,  or  any  part  thereof,  into  new  districts;  Provided,  that  each  be  formed 
of  compact  territory  and  be  bounded  by  county  lines,  but  no  changes  in  the 
number  or  boundaries  or  districts  shall  work  a  removal  of  any  judge  from 
office  during  the  term  for  which  he  has  been  elected  or  appointed. 

SEC.  15.  Writs  of  error  and  appeals  shall  be  allowed  from  the  decis- 
ions of  the  said  District  Courts  to  the  Supreme  Court  under  such  regu- 
lations as  may  be  prescribed  by  law. 

Sue.  16.  No  person  shall  be  eligible  to  the  office  of  judge  of  the 
District  Court  unless  he  be  at  least  twenty-five  years  of  age  and  a  citizen 
of  the  United  States,  and  shall  have  been  admitted  to  practise  law  in  the 
Supreme  Court  of  the  Territory  or  State  of  Montana,  nor  unless  he  shall 
have  resided  in  this  State  or  Territory  at  least  one  year  next  preceding  his 
election.  He  need  not  be  a  resident  of  the  district  for  which  he  is  elected 
at  the  time  of  his  election,  but  after  his  election  he  shall  reside  in  the  dis- 
trict for  which  he  is  elected  during  his  term  of  office. 

SEC.  17.  The  District  Court  in  each  county  which  is  a  Judicial  Dis- 
trict by  itself  shall  be  always  open  for  the  transaction  of  business,  except 
on  legal  holidays  and  non-judicial  days.  In  each  district  where  two  or 
more  counties  are  united,  until  otherwise  provided  by  law,  the  judges  of 
such  district  shall  fix  the  term  of  court,  provided  that  there  shall  be  at 
least  four  terms  a  year  held  in  each  county. 

SEC.  18.  There  shall  be  a  clerk  of  the  District  Court  in  each  county, 
who  shall  be  elected  by  the  electors  of  his  county.  The  clerk  shall  be 
elected  at  the  same  time  and  for  the  same  term  as  the  district  judge.  The 
duties  and  compensation  of  the  said  clerk  shall  be  as  provided  by  law. 


212  APPENDIX 


COUNTY   ATTORNEYS. 

SEC.  19.  There  shall  be  elected  at  the  general  election  in  each  county 
of  the  State  one  county  attorney,  whose  qualifications  shall  be  the  same  as 
are  required  for  a  judge  of  the  District  Court,  except  that  he  must  be  over 
twenty-one  years  of  age,  but  need  not  be  twenty-five  years  of  age,  and 
whose  term  of  office  shall  be  two  years,  except  that  the  county  attorneys 
first  elected  shall  hold  their  offices  until  the  general  election  in  the  year 
one  thousand  eight  hundred  and  ninety-two  (1892),  and  until  their  suc- 
cessors are  elected  and  qualified.  He  shall  have  a  salary  to  be  fixed  by 
law,  one-half  of  whch  shall  be  paid  by  the  State,  and  the  other  half  by  the 
county  for  which  he  is  elected,  and  he  shall  perform  such  duties  as  may  be 
required  by  law. 

JUSTICES   OF   THE   PEACE. 

SEC.  20.  There  shall  be  elected  in  each  organized  township  of  each 
county  by  the  electors  of  such  township  at  least  two  justices  of  the  peace, 
who  shall  hold  their  offices,  except  as  otherwise  provided  in  this  Consti- 
tution, for  the  term  of  two  years.  Justices'  courts  shall  have  such  original 
jurisdiction  within  their  respective  counties  as  may  be  prescribed  by  law, 
except  as  in  this  Constitution  .otherwise  provided;  Provided,  That  they 
shall  not  have  jurisdiction  in  any  case  where  the  debt,  damage,  claim,  or 
value  of  the  property  involved  exceeds  the  sum  of  three  hundred  dollars. 

SEC.  21.  Justices'  courts  shall  not  have  jurisdiction  in  any  case 
involving  the  title  or  right  of  possession  of  real  property,  nor  in  cases  of 
divorce,  nor  for  annulment  of  marriage,  nor  of  cases  in  equity;  nor  shall 
they  have  power  to  issue  writs  of  habeas  corpus,  mandamus,  certiorari, 
quo  warranto,  injunction,  or  prohibition,  nor  the  power  of  naturalization; 
nor  shall  they  have  jurisdiction  in  cases  of  felony,  except  as  examining 
courts;  nor  shall  criminal  cases  in  said  courts  be  prosecuted  by  indictment; 
but  said  courts  shall  have  such  jurisdiction  in  criminal  matters,  not  of  the 
grade  of  felony,  as  may  be  provided  by  law;  and  shall  also  have  concurrent 
jurisdiction  with  the  District  Courts,  in  cases  of  forcible  entry  and 
unlawful  detainer. 

SEC.  22.  Justices'  courts  shall  always  be  open  for  the  transaction  of 
business,  except  on  legal  holidays  and  non-judicial  days. 

SEC.  23.  Appeals  shall  be  allowed  from  justices'  courts  in  all  cases, 
to  the  District  Courts,  in  such  manner  and  under  such  regulations  as  may 
be  prescribed  by  law. 


APPENDIX  213 


POLICE   AND   MUNICIPAL   COURTS. 

SEC.  24.  The  Legislative  Assembly  shall  have  power  to  provide  for 
creating  such  police  and  municipal  courts  and  magistrates  for  cities  and 
towns  as  may  be  deemed  necessary  from  time  to  time,  which  shall  have 
jurisdiction  in  all  cases  arising  under  the  ordinances  of  such  cities  and 
towns,  respectively;  such  police  magistrates  may  also  be  constituted 
ex  officio  justices  of  the  peace  for  their  respective  counties. 

SEC.  25.     The  Supreme  and  District  Courts  shall  be  courts  of  record. 

SEC.  26.  All  laws  relating  to  courts  shall  be  general  and  of  uniform 
operation  throughout  the  State;  and  the  organization,  jurisdiction, 
powers,  proceedings,  and  practice  of  all  courts  of  the  same  class  or  grade, 
so  far  as  regulated  by  law,  shall  be  uniform. 

SEC.  27.  The  style  of  all  process  shall  be  "The  State  of  Montana," 
and  all  prosecutions  shall  be  conducted  in  the  name  and  by  the  authority 
of  the  same. 

SEC.  28.  There  shall  be  but  one  form  of  civil  action,  and  law  and 
equity  may  be  administered  in  the  same  action. 

SEC.  29.  The  justices  of  the  Supreme  Court  and  the  judges  of  the 
District  Courts  shall  each  be  paid  quarterly  by  the  State,  a  salary,  which 
shall  not  be  increased  or  diminished  during  the  terms  for  which  they  shall 
have  been  respectively  elected.  Until  otherwise  provided  by  law,  the 
salary  of  the  justices  of  the  Supreme  Court  shall  be  four  thousand  dollars 
per  annum  each,  and  the  salary  of  the  judges  of  the  District  Courts  shall  be 
three  thousand  five  hundred  dollars  per  annum  each. 

SEC.  30.  No  justice  of  the  Supreme  Court  nor  judge  of  the  District 
Court  shall  accept  or  receive  any  compensation,  fee,  allowance,  mileage, 
perquisite,  or  emolument  for  or  on  account  of  his  office  in  any  form  what- 
ever, except  the  salary  provided  by  laWi 

SEC.  31.  No  justice  or  clerk  of  the  Supreme  Court,  nor  judge  or 
clerk  of  any  District  Court,  shall  act  or  practise  as  an  attorney,  or 
counsellor  at  law  in  any  court  of  this  State  during  his  continuance  in 
office. 

SEC.  32.  The  Legislative  Assembly  may  provide  for  the  publication 
of  decisions  and  opinions  of  the  Supreme  Court. 

SEC.  33.  All  officers  provided  for  in  this  Article,  excepting  justices 
of  the  Supreme  Court,  who  shall  reside  within  the  State,  shall  respectively 
reside  during  their  term  of  office  in  the  district,  county,  township,  precinct, 
city,  or  town  for  which  they  may  be  elected  or  appointed. 


214  APPENDIX 

SEC.  34.  Vacancies  in  the  office  of  justice  of  the  Supreme  Court,  or 
judge  of  the  District  Court,  or  clerk  of  the  Supreme  Court,  shall  be  filled 
by  appointment,  by  the  Governor  of  the  State,  and  vacancies  in  the  offices 
of  county  attorneys,  clerk  of  the  District  Court,  and  justices  of  the  peace 
shall  be  filled  by  appointment  by  the  Board  of  County  Commissioners  of 
the  county  where  such  vacancy  occurs.  A  person  appointed  to  fill  any 
such  vacancy  shall  hold  his  office  until  his  successor  is  elected  and  qualified. 
A  person  elected  to  fill  a  vacancy  shall  hold  office  until  the  expiration  of 
the  term  for  which  the  person  he  succeeds  was  elected. 

SEC.  35.  No  justice  of  the  Supreme  Court  or  district  judge  shall  hold 
any  other  public  office  while  he  remains  in  the  office  to  which  he  has  been 
elected  or  appointed. 

SEC.  36.  A  civil  action  in  the  District  Court  may  be  tried  by  a  judge 
pro  tempore,  who  must  be  a  member  of  the  bar  of  the  State,  agreed  upon  in 
writing  by  the  parties  litigant,  or  their  attorneys  of  record,  approved  by  the 
court,  and  sworn  to  try  the  cause;  and  in  such  case  any  order,  judgment, 
or  decree,  made  or  rendered  therein  by  such  judge  pro  tempore,  shall  have 
the  same  force  and  effect  as  if  made  or  rendered  by  the  court  with  the 
regular  judge  presiding. 

SEC.  37.  Any  judicial  officer  who  shall  absent  himself  from  the  State 
for  more  than  sixty  consecutive  days  shall  be  deemed  to  have  forfeited  his 
office. 


ARTICLE  IX. —  RIGHTS  OF  SUFFRAGE  AND  QUALIFICATIONS  TO  HOLD 

OFFICE. 

SECTION  1.     All  elections  of  the  people  shall  be  by  ballot. 

SEC.  2.  Every  male  person  of  the  age  of  twenty-one  years  or  over, 
possessing  the  following  qualifications,  shall  be  entitled  to  vote  at  all 
general  elections  and  for  all  officers  that  now  are,  or  hereafter  may  be, 
elective  by  the  people,  and  upon  all  questions  which  may  be  submitted  to 
the  vote  of  the  people:  First,  he  shall  be  a  citizen  of  the  United  States; 
second,  he  shall  have  resided  in  this  State  one  year  immediately  preceding 
the  election  at  which  he  offers  to  vote,  and  in  the  town,  county,  or  precinct 
such  time  as  may  be  prescribed  by  law;  Provided,  first,  that  no  person 
convicted  of  felony  shall  have  the  right  to  vote  unless  he  has  been  pardoned; 
Provided,  second,  that  nothing  herein  contained  shall  be  construed  to 
deprive  any  person  of  the  right  to  vote  who  had  such  right  at  the  time  of 
the  adoption  of  this  Constitution;  Provided,  that  after  the  expiration  of  five 


APPENDIX  215 

years  from  the  time  of  the  adoption  of  this  Constitution  no  person  except 
citizens  of  the  United  States  shall  have  the  right  to  vote. 

SEC.  3.  For  the  purpose  of  voting  no  person  shall  be  deemed  to  have 
gained  or  lost  a  residence  by  reason  of  his  presence  or  absence  while  em- 
ployed in  the  service  of  the  State,  or  of  the  United  States,  nor  while  a 
student  at  any  institution  of  learning,  nor  while  kept  at  any  alms-house  or 
other  asylum  at  the  public  expense,  nor  while  confined  in  any  public  prison. 

SEC.  4.  Electors  shall  in  all  cases,  except  treason,  felony,  or  breach 
of  the  peace,  be  privileged  from  arrest  during  their  attendance  at  elections 
and  in  going  to  and  returning  therefrom. 

SEC.  5.  No  elector  shall  be  obliged  to  perform  military  duty  on  the 
days  of  election,  except  in  time  of  war  or  public  danger. 

SEC.  6.  No  soldier,  seaman,  or  marine  in  the  army  or  navy  of  the 
United  States  shall  be  deemed  a  resident  of  this  State  in  consequence  of 
being  stationed  at  any  military  or  naval  place  within  the  same. 

SEC.  ?.  No  person  shall  be  elected  or  nominated  to  any  office  in  this 
State,  civil  or  military,  who  is  not  a  citizen  of  the  Unite4  States,  and  who 
shall  not  have  resided  in  this  State  at  least  one  vear  next  before  his 
election  or  appointment. 

SEC.  8.  No  idiot  or  insane  person  shall  be  entitled  to  vote  at  any  elec- 
tion in  this  State. 

SEC.  9.  The  Legislative  Assembly  shall  have  the  power  to  pass  a 
registration  and  such  other  laws  as  may  be  necessary  to  secure  the  purity 
of  elections  and  guard  against  abuses  of  the  elective  franchise. 

SEC.  10.  Women  shall  be  eligible  to  hold  the  office  of  county  super- 
intendent of  schools  or  any  school  district  office  and  shall  have  the  right  to 
vote  at  any  school  district  election. 

SEC.  11.  Any  person  qualified  to  vote  at  general  elections  and  for 
State  officers  in  this  State  shall  be  eligible  to  any  office  therein  except  as 
otherwise  provided  in  this  Constitution,  and  subject  to  such  additional 
qualifications  as  may  be  prescribed  by  the  Legislative  Assembly,  for  city 
offices  and  offices  hereafter  created. 

SEC.  12.  Upon  all  questions  submitted  to  the  vote  of  the  tax-payers 
of  the  State,  or  any  political  division  thereof,  women  who  are  tax-payers 
and  possessed  of  the  qualifications  for  the  right  of  suffrage  required  of  men 
by  this  Constitution  shall  equally,  with  men,  have  the  right  to  vote. 

SEC.  13.  In  all  elections  held  by  the  people  under  this  Constitution, 
the  person  or  persons  who  shall  receive  the  highest  number  of  legal  votes, 
shall  be  declared  elected. 


216  APPENDIX 


ARTICLE  X. —  STATE  INSTITUTIONS  AND  PUBLIC  BUILDINGS. 

SECTION  1.  Educational,  reformatory,  and  pertal  institutions,  and 
those  for  the  benefit  of  the  insane,  blind,  deaf  and  mute,  soldiers'  home, 
and  such  other  institutions  as  the  public  good  may  require,  shall  be  estab- 
lished and  supported  by  the  State  in  such  a  manner  as  may  be  prescribed 
by  law. 

SEC.  2.  At  the  general  election  in  the  year  one  thousand  eight  hundred 
and  ninety-two,  the  question  of  permanent  location  of  the  seat  of  govern- 
ment is  hereby  provided  to  be  submitted  to  the  qualified  electors  of  the 
State  and  the  majority  of  all  the  votes  upon  said  question  shall  determine 
the  location  thereof.  In  case  there  shall  be  no  choice  of  location  at  said 
election,  the  question  of  choice  between  the  two  places  for  which  the 
highest  number  of  votes  shall  have  been  cast  shall  be,  and  is  hereby,  sub- 
mitted in  like  manner  to  the  qualified  electors  at  the  next  general  election 
thereafter;  Provided,  that  until  the  seat  of  government  shall  have  been 
permanently  located  the  temporary  seat  of  government  shall  be  and 
remain  in  the  city  of  Helena. 

SEC.  3.  When  the  seat  of  government  shall  have  been  located  as 
herein  provided  the  location  thereof  shall  not  thereafter  be  changed,  except 
by  a  vote  of  two-thirds  of  all  the  qualified  electors  of  the  State  voting  on  that 
question  at  a  general  election  at  which  the  question  of  the  location  of  the 
seat  of  government  shall  have  been  submitted  by  the  Legislative  Assembly. 

SEC.  4.  The  Legislative  Assembly  shall  make  no  appropriations  or 
expenditures  for  capitol  buildings  or  groun  ]s  un  il  the  seat  of  government 
shall  have  been  permanently  located,  as  herein  provided. 

SEC.  5.  The  several  counties  of  the  State  shall  provide,  as  may  be 
prescribed  by  law,  for  those  inhabitants,  who,  by  reason  of  age,  infirmity, 
or  misfortune,  may  have  claims  upon  the  sympathy  and  aid  of  society. 

ARTICLE  XI. —  EDUCATION. 

SECTION  1 .  It  shall  be  the  duty  of  the  Legislative  Assembly  of  Mon- 
tana to  establish  and  maintain  a  general,  uniform,  and  thorough  system 
of  public,  free  common  schools. 

SEC.  2.  The  public  school  fund  of  the  State  shall  consist  of  the  pro- 
ceeds of  such  lands  as  have  heretofore  been  granted,  or  may  hereafter  be 
granted,  to  the  State  by  the  General  Government,  known  as  school  lands; 
and  those  granted  in  lieu  of  such;  lands  acquired  by  gift  or  grant  from 


APPENDIX  217 

any  person  or  corporation  under  any  law  or  grant  of  the  General  Govern- 
ment; and  of  all  other  grants  of  land  or  money  made  to  the  State  from 
the  General  Government  for  general  educational  purposes,  or  where  no 
other  special  purpose  is  indicated  in  such  grant;  all  estates,  or  distributive 
shares  of  the  estates  that  may  escheat  to  the  State;  all  unclaimed  shares 
and  dividends  of  any  corporation  incorporated  under  the  laws  of  the  State, 
and  all  other  grants,  gifts,  devises,  or  bequests  made  to  the  State  for  general 
educational  purposes. 

SEC.  3.  Such  public  school  fund  shall  forever  remain  inviolate, 
guaranteed  by  the  State  against  loss  or  diversion,  to  be  invested,  so  far  as 
possible,  in  public  securities  within  the  State,  including  school  district 
bonds,  issued  for  the  erection  of  school  buildings,  under  the  restrictions 
to  be  provided  by  law. 

SEC.  4.  The  Governor,  Superintendent  of  Public  Instruction,  Sec- 
retary of  State,  and  Attorney  General  shall  constitute  the  State  Board  of 
Land  Commissioners,  which  shall  have  the  direction,  control,  leasing,  and 
sale  of  the  school  lands  of  the  State,  and  the  lands  granted  or  which  may 
hereafter  be  granted  for  the  support  and  benefit  of  the  various  State 
educational  institutions,  under  such  regulations  and  restrictions  as  may 
be  prescribed  by  law. 

SEC.  5.  The  interest  on  all  invested  school  funds  of  the  State,  and 
all  rents  accruing  from  the  leasing  of  any  school  lands,  shall  be  appor- 
tioned to  the  several  school  districts  of  the  State  in  proportion  to  the 
number  of  children  and  youths  between  the  ages  of  six  and  twenty-one 
years,  residing  therein  respectively,  but  no  district  shall  be  entitled  to 
such  distributive  share  that  does  not  maintain  a  public  free  school  for  at 
least  three  months  during  the  year  for  which  distributions  shall  be  made. 

SEC.  6.  It  shall  be  the  duty  of  the  Legislative  Assembly  to  provide 
by  taxation,  or  otherwise,  sufficient  means,  in  connection  with  the  amount 
received  from  the  general  school  fund,  to  maintain  a  public,  free  common 
school  in  each  organized  district  in  the  State,  for  at  least  three  months  in 
each  year. 

SEC.  7.  The  public  free  schools  of  the  State  shall  be  open  to  all 
children  and  youths  between  the  ages  of  six  and  twenty-one  years. 

SEC.  8.  Neither  the  Legislative  Assembly,  nor  any  county,  city, 
town,  or  school  district,  or  other  public  corporations,  shall  ever  make, 
directly  or  indirectly,  any  appropriation,  or  pay  from  any  public  fund  or 
moneys  whatever,  or  make  any  grant  of  lands  or  other  property  in  aid  of 
any  church,  or  for  any  sectarian  purpose,  or  to  aid  in  the  support  of  any 


218  APPENDIX 

school,  academy,  seminary,  college,  university,  or  other  literary,  scientific 
institution,  controlled  in  whole  or  in  part  by  any  church,  sect,  or  denom- 
ination whatever. 

SEC.  9.  No  religious  or  partisan  test  or  qualification  shall  ever  be 
required  of  any  person  as  a  condition  of  admission  into  any  public  educa- 
tional institution  of  the  State,  either  as  teacher  or  student;  nor  shall 
attendance  be  required  at  any  religious  service  whatever,  nor  shall  any 
sectarian  tenets  be  taught  in  any  public  educational  institution  of  the 
State;  nor  shall  any  person  be  debarred  admission  to  any  of  the  collegiate 
departments  of  the  university  on  account  of  sex. 

SEC.  10.  The  Legislative  Assembly  shall  provide  that  all  elections 
for  school  district  officers  shall  be  separate  from  those  elections  at  which 
State  or  county  officers  are  voted  for. 

SEC.  11.  The  general  control  and  supervision  of  the  State  University 
and  the  various  other  State  educational  institutions  shall  be  vested  in  a 
State  Board  of  Education,  whose  powers  and  duties  shall  be  prescribed 
and  regulated  by  law.  The  said  board  shall  consist  of  eleven  members, 
the  Governor,  State  Superintendent  of  Public  Instruction,  and  Attorney 
General,  being  members  ex  officio,  the  other  eight  members  thereof  shall 
be  appointed  by  the  Governor,  subject  to  the  confirmation  of  the  Senate, 
under  the  regulations  and  restrictions  to  be  provided  by  law. 

SEC.  12.  The  funds  of  the  State  University  and  of  all  other  State 
institutions  of  learning,  from  whatever  source  accruing,  shall  forever 
remain  inviolate  and  sacred  to  the  purpose  for  which  they  were  dedicated. 
The  various  funds  shall  be  respectively  invested  under  such  regulations  as 
may  be  prescribed  by  law,  and  shall  be  guaranteed  by  the  State  against 
loss  or  diversion.  The  interest  of  said  invested  funds,  together  with  the 
rents  from  leased  lands  or  properties,  shall  be  devoted  to  the  maintenance 
and  perpetuation  of  these  respective  institutions. 

ARTICLE  XII. —  REVENUE  AND  TAXATION. 

SECTION  1.  The  necessary  revenue  for  the  support  and  maintenance 
of  the  State  shall  be  provided  by  the  Legislative  Assembly,  which  shall 
levy  a  uniform  rate  of  assessment  and  taxation,  and  shall  prescribe  such 
regulations  as  shall  secure  a  just  valuation  for  taxation  of  all  property, 
except  that  specially  provided  for  in  this  Article.  The  Legislative  As- 
sembly may  also  impose  a  license  tax,  both  upon  persons  and  upon  cor- 
porations doing  business  in  the  State. 


APPENDIX     ,  219 

SEC.  2.  The  property  of  the  United  States,  the  State,  counties,  cities, 
towns,  school  districts,  municipal  corporations,  and  public  libraries  shall 
be  exempt  from  taxation;  and  such  other  property  as  may  be  used  exclu- 
sively for  agricultural  and  horticultural  societies,  for  educational  pur- 
poses, places  for  actual  religious  worship,  hospitals,  and  places  of  burial 
not  used  or  held  for  private  or  corporate  profit,  and  institutions  of  purely 
public  charity  may  be  exempt  from  taxation. 

SEC.  3.  All  mines  and  mining  claims,  both  placer  and  rock  in  place, 
containing  or  bearing  gold,  silver,  copper,  lead,  coal,  or  other  valuable 
mineral  deposits,  after  purchase  thereof  from  the  United  States,  shall  be 
taxed  at  the  price  paid  the  United  States  therefor,  unless  the  surface 
ground,  or  some  part  thereof,  of  such  mine  or  claim,  is  used  for  other  than 
mining  purposes,  and  has  a  separate  and  independent  value  for  such 
other  purposes,  in  which  case  said  surface  ground,  or  any  part  thereof, 
so  used  for  other  than  mining  purposes,  shall  be  taxed  at  its  value  for 
such  other  purposes,  as  provided  by  law;  and  all  machinery  used  in 
mining,  and  all  property  and  surface  improvements  upon  or  appurtenant 
to  mines  and  mining  claims  which  have  a  value  separate  and  independent 
of  such  mines  or  mining  claims,  and  the  annual  net  proceeds  of  all  mines 
and  mining  claims*  shall  be  taxed  as  provided  by  law. 

SEC.  4.  The  Legislative  Assembly  shall  not  levy  taxes  upon  the 
inhabitants  or  property  in  any  county,  city,  town,  or  municipal  corporation 
for  county,  town,  or  municipal  purposes,  but  it  may  by  law  vest  in  the 
corporate  authorities  thereof  powers  to  assess  and  collect  taxes  for  such 
purposes. 

SEC.  o.  Taxes  for  city,  town,  and  school  purposes  may  be  levied  on 
all  subjects  and  objects  of  taxation,  but  the  assessed  valuation  of  any 
property  shall  not  exceed  the  valuation  of  the  same  property  for  State 
and  county  purposes. 

SEC.  6.  No  county,  city,  town,  or  other  municipal  corporation,  the 
inhabitants  thereof  nor  the  property  therein,  shall  be  released  or  dis- 
charged from  their  or  its,  proportionate  share  of  State  taxes. 

SEC.  7.  The  power  to  tax  corporations  or  corporate  property  shall 
never  be  relinquished  or  suspended,  and  all  corporations  in  this  State,  or 
doing  business  therein,  shall  be  subject  to  taxation  for  State,  county, 
school,  municipal,  and  other  purposes,  on  real  and  personal  property  owned 
or  used  by  them  and  not  by  this  Constitution  exempted  from  taxation. 

SEC.  8,  Private  property  shall  not  be  taken  or  sold  for  the  corporate 
debts  of  public  corporations,  but  the  Legislative  Assembly  may  provide 


220  ^       APPENDIX 

by  law  for  the  funding  thereof,  and  shall  provide  by  law  for  the  payment 
thereof,  including  all  funded  debts  and  obligations,  by  assessment  and 
taxation  of  all  private  property  not  exempt  from  taxation  within  the  limits 
of  the  territory  over  which  such  corporations  respectively  have  authority. 

SEC.  9.  The  rate  of  taxation  of  real  and  personal  property  for  State 
purposes  in  any  one  year  shall  never  exceed  three  (3)  mills  on  each  dollar 
of  valuation;  and  whenever  the  taxable  property  in  the  State  shall  amount 
to  one  hundred  million  dollars  ($100,000,000),  the  rate  shall  not  exceed 
two  and  one-half  (2J)  mills  on  each  dollar  of  valuation;  and  whenever 
the  taxable  property  in  the  State  shall  amount  to  three  hundred  million 
dollars  ($300,000,000),  the  rate  shall  never  exceed  one  and  one-half  (1^) 
mills  on  each  dollar  of  valuation;  unless  a  proposition  to  increase  such 
rate,  specifying  the  rate  proposed  and  the  time  during  which  the  same 
shall  be  levied,  shall  have  been  submitted  to  the  people  at  a  general  election, 
and  shall  have  received  a  majority  of  all  the  votes  cast  for  and  against  it  at 
such  election. 

SEC.  10.  All  taxes  levied  for  State  purposes  shall  be  paid  into  the 
State  treasury,  and  no  money  shall  be  drawn  from  the  treasury  but  in  pur- 
suance of  specific  appropriations  made  by  law. 

SEC.  11.  Taxes  shall  be  levied  and  collected  by  general  laws  and  for 
public  purposes  only.  They  shall  be  uniform  upon  the  same  class  of 
subjects  within  the  territorial  limits  of  the  authority  levying  the  tax. 

SEC.  12.  No  appropriation  shall  be  made  or  any  expenditures 
authorized  by  the  Legislative  Assembly  whereby  the  expenditures  of  the 
State  during  any  fiscal  year  shall  exceed  the  total  tax  then  provided  for 
by  law,  and  applicable  to  such  appropriation  or  expenditure,  unless  the 
Legislative  Assembly  making  such  appropriation  shall  provide  for  levying 
a  sufficient  tax,  not  exceeding  the  rate  allowed  in  Section  9  of  this  Article, 
to  pay  such  appropriations  or  expenditures  within  such  fiscal  year.  This 
provision  shall  not  apply  to  appropriations  or  expenditures  to  suppress 
insurrection,  defend  the  State,  or  assist  in  defending  the  United  States  in 
time  of  war.  No  appropriations  of  public  moneys  shall  be  made  for  a 
longer  term  than  two  years. 

SEC.  13.  The  State  Treasurer  shall  keep  a  separate  account  of  each 
fund  in  his  hands,  and  shall  at  the  end  of  each  quarter  of  the  fiscal  year 
report  to  the  Governor,  in  writing,  under  oath,  the  amount  of  all  moneys 
in  his  hands  to  the  credit  of  every  such  fund,  and  the  place  or  places 
where  the  same  is  kept  or  deposited,  and  the  number  and  amount  of 
every  warrant  paid  or  redeemed  by  him  during  the  quarter.  The  Gov- 


APPENDIX  221 

ernor,  or  other  person  or  persons  authorized  by  law,  shall  verify  said 
report  and  cause  the  same  to  be  immediately  published  in  at  least  one 
newspaper  printed  at  the  seat  of  government,  and  otherwise  as  the  Leg- 
islative Assembly  may  require.  The  Legislative  Assembly  may  provide 
by  law  further  regulations  for  the  safe  keeping  and  management  of  the 
public  funds  in  the  hands  of  the  Treasurer;  but,  notwithstanding  any 
such  regulations,  the  Treasurer  and  his  sureties  shall,  in  all  cases,  be  held 
responsible  therefor. 

SEC.  14.  The  making  of  profit  out  of  public  moneys,  or  using  the 
same  for  any  purpose  not  authorized  by  law,  by  any  public  officer,  shall 
be  deemed  a  felony,  and  shall  be  punished  as  provided  by  law,  but  part 
of  such  punishment  shall  be  disqualification  to  hold  public  office. 

SEC.  15.  The  Governor,  Secretary  of  State,  State  Treasurer,  State 
Auditor,  and  Attorney  General  shall  constitute  a  State  Board  of  Equaliza- 
tion, and  the  Board  of  County  Commissioners  of  each  county  shall  consti- 
tute a  County  Board  of  Equalization.  The  duty  of  the  State  Board  of 
Equalization  shall  be  to  adjust  and  equalize  the  valuation  of  the  taxable 
property  among  the  several  counties  of  the  State.  The  duty  of  the  County 
Boards  of  Equalization  shall  be  to  adjust  and  equalize  the  valuation  of 
taxable  property  within  their  respective  counties.  Each  board  shall  also 
perform  such  other  duties  as  may  be  prescribed  by  law. 

SEC.  16.  All  property  shall  be  assessed  in  the  manner  prescribed  by 
law,  except  as  is  otherwise  provided  in  this  Constitution.  The  franchise, 
roadway,  roadbed,  rails,  and  rolling  stock  of  all  railroads  operated  in  more 
than  one  county  in  this  State  shall  be  assessed  by  the  State  Board  of 
Equalization,  and  the  same  shall  be  apportioned  to  the  counties,  cities, 
towns,  townships,  and  school  districts  in  which  such  railroads  are  located, 
in  proportion  to  the  number  of  miles  of  railway  laid  in  such  counties, 
cities,  towns,  townships,  and  school  districts. 

SEC.  17.  The  word  "property"  as  used  in  this  Article  is  hereby 
declared  to  include  moneys,  credits,  bonds,  stocks,  franchises,  and  all 
matters  and  things  (real,  personal,  and  mixed)  capable  of  private  owner- 
ship; but  this  shall  not  be  construed  so  as  to  authorize  the  taxation  of  the 
stocks  of  any  company  or  corporation  when  the  property  of  such  company 
or  corporation  represented  by  such  stocks  is  within  the  State  and  has 
been  taxed. 

SEC.  18.  The  Legislative  Assembly  shall  pass  all  laws  necessary  lo 
carry  on  the  provisions  of  this  Article. 


222  APPENDIX 


ARTICLE  XIII. —  PUBLIC  INDEBTEDNESS. 

SECTION  1.  Neither  the  State,  nor  any  county,  city,  town,  munici- 
pality, nor  other  subdivision  of  the  State  shall  ever  give  or  loan  its  credit 
in  aid  of,  or  make  any  donation  or  grant,  by  subsidy  or  otherwise,  to  any 
individual,  association,  or  corporation,  or  become  a  subscribe  to,  or  a 
share-holder  in,  any  company  or  corporation,  or  a  joint  owner  with  any 
person,  company,  or  corporation,  except  as  such  ownership  may  accrue 
to  the  State  by  operation  or  provision  of  law. 

SEC.  2.  The  Legislative  Assembly  shall  not  in  any  manner  create 
any  debt  except  by  law  which  shall  be  irrepealable  until  the  indebtedness 
therein  provided  for  shall  have  been  fully  paid  or  discharged;  such  law 
shall  specify  the  purpose  to  which  the  funds  so  raised  shall  be  applied 
and  provide  for  the  levy  of  a  tax  sufficient  to  pay  the  interest  on,  and  ex- 
tinguish the  principal  of,  such  debt  within  the  time  limited  by  such  law 
for  the  payment  thereof;  but  no  debt  or  liability  shall  be  created  which 
shall,  singly  or  in  the  aggregate  with  any  existing  debt  or  liability,  exceed 
the  sum  of  one  hundred  thousand  dollars  ($100,000),  except  in  cases  of 
war,  to  repel  invasion  or  suppress  insurrection,  unless  the  law  authorizing 
the  same  shall  have  been  submitted  to  the  people  at  a  general  election  and 
shall  have  received  a  majority  of  the  votes  cast  for  and  against  it  at  such 
election. 

SEC.  3.  All  moneys  borrowed  by,  or  on  hehalf  of,  the  State  or  any 
county,  city,  town,  municipality,  or  other  subdivision  of  the  State,  shall  be 
used  only  for  the  purpose  specified  in  the  law  authorizing  the  loan. 

SEC.  4.  The  State  shall  not  assume  the  debt,  or  any  part  thereof,  of 
any  county,  city,  town,  or  municipal  corporation. 

SEC.  5.  No  county  shall  be  allowed  to  become  indebted  in  any 
manner,  or  for  any  purpose,  to  an  amount,  including  existing  indebtedness, 
in  the  aggregate  exceeding  five  (5)  per  centum  of  the  (value  of  the)  taxable 
property  therein,  to  be  ascertained  by  the  last  assessment  for  State  and 
county  taxes  previous  to  the  incurring  of  such  indebtedness,  and  all  bonds 
or  obligations  in  excess  of  such  amount  given  by,  or  on  behalf  of,  such 
county  shall  be  void.  No  county  shall  incur  any  indebtedness  or  liability 
for  any  single  purpose  to  an  amount  exceeding  ten  thousand  dollars 
($10,000)  without  the  approval  of  a  majority  of  the  electors  thereof,  voting 
at  an  election  to  be  provided  by  law. 

SEC.  6.  No  city,  town,  township,  or  school  district  shall  be  allowed 
to  become  indebted  in  any  manner  or  for  any  purpose  to  an  amount, 


APPENDIX  223 

including  existing  indebtedness,  in  the  aggregate  exceeding  three  per 
centum  of  the  value  of  the  taxable  property  therein,  to  be  ascertained  by 
the  last  assessment  for  the  State  and  county  taxes  previous  to  the  incurring 
of  such  indebtedness,  and  all  bonds  or  obligations  in  excess  of  such  amount 
given  by,  or  on  behalf  of,  such  city,  town,  township,  or  school  district 
shall  be  void;  Provided,  however,  that  the  Legislative  Assembly  may 
extend  the  limit  mentioned  in  this  Section,  by  authorizing  municipal  cor- 
porations to  submit  the  question  to  a  vote  of  the  tax-payers  affected 
thereby,  when  such  increase  is  necessary  to  construct  a  sewerage  system 
or  to  procure  a  supply  of  water  for  such  municipality  which  shall  own 
and  control  said  water  supply  and  devote  the  revenues  derived  therefrom 
to  the  payment  of  the  debt. 

ARTICLE  XIV. —  MILITARY  AFFAIRS. 

SECTION  1.  The  militia  of  the  State  of  Montana  shall  consist  of  all 
able-bodied  male  citizens  of  the  State  between  the  ages  of  eighteen  (18) 
and  forty -five  (4.5)  years  inclusive,  except  such  persons  as  may  be  exempted 
by  the  laws  of  the  State  or  of  the  United  States. 

SEC.  2.  The  Legislative  Assembly  shall  provide  by  law  for  the  organi- 
zation, equipment,  and  discipline  of  the  militia  and  shall  make  rules  and 
regulations  for  the  government  of  the  same.  The  organization  shall 
conform  as  nearly  as  practicable  to  the  regulations  for  the  government 
of  the  armies  of  the  United  States. 

SEC.  3.  The  Legislative  Assembly  shall  provide  by  law  for  main- 
taining the  militia  by  appropriations  from  the  treasury  of  the  State. 

SEC.  4.  The  Legislative  Assembly  shall  provide  by  law  for  the  safe 
keeping  of  the  public  arms,  military  records,  relics,  and  banners  of  the  State. 

SEC.  5.  When  the  Governor  shall,  with  the  consent  of  the  Legislative 
Assembly,  be  out  of  the  State  in  time  of  wrar,  at  the  head  of  any  military 
force  thereof,  he  shall  continue  commander-in-chief  of  all  the  military 
forces  of  the  State.  , 

ARTICLE  XV. —  CORPORATIONS  OTHER  THAN  MUNICIPAL. 

SECTION  1.  All  existing  charters,  or  grants  of  special  or  exclusive 
privileges,  under  which  the  corporations  or  grantees  shall  not  have  organ- 
i/od  or  commenced  business  in  good  faith  at  the  time  of  the  adoption  of 
this  Constitution,  shall  thereafter  have  no  validity. 


224  APPENDIX 

SEC.  2.  No  charter  of  incorporations  shall  be  granted,  extended, 
changed,  or  amended  by  special  law,  except  for  such  municipal,  charitable, 
educational,  penal,  or  reformatory  corporations  hereafter  to  be  created; 
Provided,  That  any  such  laws  shall  be  subject  to  future  repeal  or  altera- 
tions by  the  Legislative  Assembly. 

SEC.  3.  The  Legislative  Assembly  shall  have  the  power  to  alter, 
revoke,  or  annul  any  charter  of  incorporation  existing  at  the  time  of  the 
adoption  of  this  Constitution,  or  which  may  be  hereafter  incorporated, 
whenever  in  its  opinion  it  may  be  injurious  to  the  citizens  of  the  State. 

SEC.  4.  The  Legislative  Assembly  shall  provide  by  law  that  in  all 
elections  for  directors  or  trustees  of  incorporated  companies,  every  stock- 
holder shall  have  the  right  to  vote  in  person  or  by  proxy  the  number  of 
shares  of  stock  owned  by  him  for  as  many  persons  as  there  are  directors 
or  trustees  to  be  elected,  or  to  cumulate  said  shares,  and  give  one  candidate 
as  many  votes  as  the  number  of  directors  multiplied  by  the  number  of  his 
shares  of  stock  shall  equal,  or  to  distribute  them,  on  the  same  principle, 
among  as  many  candidates  as  he  shall  think  fit,  and  such  directors  or 
trustees  shall  not  be  elected  in  any  other  manner. 

SEC.  5.  All  railroads  shall  be  public  highways,  and  all  railroad, 
transportation,  and  express  companies  shall  be  common  carriers  and 
subject  to  legislative  control,  and  the  Legislative  Assembly  shall  have  the 
power  to  regulate  and  control  by  law  the  rates  of  charges  for  the  transpor- 
tation of  passengers  and  freight  by  such  companies  as  common  carriers 
from  one  point  to  another  in  the  State.  Any  association  or  corporation, 
organized  for  the  purpose,  shall  have  the  right  to  construct  and  operate  a 
railroad  between  any  designated  points  within  this  State  and  to  connect 
at  the  State  line  with  railroads  of  other  States  and  Territories.  Every 
railroad  company  shall  have  the  right  with  its  road  to  intersect,  connect 
with,  or  cross  any  other  railroad. 

SEC.  6.  No  railroad  corporation,  express,  or  other  transportation 
company,  or  the  lessees  or  managers  thereof,  shall  consolidate  its  stock, 
property,  or  franchises  with  any  other  railroad  corporation,  express  or 
other  transportation  company,  owning  or  having  under  its  control  a  parallel 
or  competing  line;  neither  shall  it  in  any  manner  unite  its  business  or 
earnings  with  the  business  or  earnings  of  any  other  railroad  corporation; 
nor  shall  any  officer  of  such  railroad,  express,  or  other  transportation 
company  act  as  an  officer  of  any  other  railroad  company,  express  or  other 
transportation  company  owning  or  having  control  of  a  parallel  or  com- 
peting line. 


APPENDIX  225 

SEC.  7.  All  individuals,  associations,  and  corporations  shall  have 
equal  rights  to  have  persons  or  property  transported  on  and  over  any 
railroad,  transportation,  or  express  route  in  this  State.  No  discrimination 
in  charges  or  facilities  for  transportation  of  freight  or  passengers  of  the  same 
class  shall  be  made  by  any  railroad  or  transportation  or  express  company, 
between  persons  or  places  within  this  State;  but  excursion  or  commutation 
tickets  may  be  issued  and  sold  at  special  rates,  provided  such  rates  are  the 
same  to  all  persons.  No  railroad  or  transportation  or  express  company 
shall  be  allowed  to  charge,  collect,  or  receive,  under  penalties  which  the 
Legislative  Assembly  shall  prescribe,  any  greater  toll  for  the  transporta- 
tion of  freight  or  passengers  to  any  place  or  station  upon  its  route  or  line, 
than  it  charges  for  the  transportation  of  the  same  class  of  freight  or  passen- 
gers to  any  more  distant  place  or  station  upon  its  route  or  line  within  this 
State.  No  railroad,  express,  or  transportation  company,  nor  any  lessee, 
manager,  or  other  employee  thereof,  shall  give  any  preference  to  any 
individual,  association,  or  corporation,  in  furnishing  cars  or  motive  power, 
or  for  the  transportation  of  money  or  other  express  matter. 

SEC.  8.  No  railroad,  express,  or  other  transportation  company,  in 
existence  at  the  time  of  the  adoption  of  this  Constitution,  shall  have  the 
benefit  of  any  future  legislation,  without  first  filing  in  the  office  of  the 
Secretary  of  State  an  acceptance  of  the  provisions  of  this  Constitution  in 
binding  form. 

SEC.  9.  The  right  of  eminent  domain  shall  never  be  abridged,  nor  so 
construed  as  to  prevent  the  Legislative  Assembly  from  taking  the  property 
and  franchises  of  incorporated  companies,  and  subjecting  them  to  public 
use  the  same  as  the  property  of  individuals;  and  the  police  powers  of 
the  State  shall  never  be  abridged,  nor  so  construed  as  to  permit  corpora- 
tions to  conduct  their  business  in  such  manner  as  to  infringe  the  equal 
rights  of  individuals,  or  the  general  well-being  of  the  State. 

SEC.  10.  No  corporation  shall  issue  stocks  or  bonds,  except  for  labor 
done,  services  performed,  or  money  and  property  actually  received;  and 
all  fictitious  increase  of  stock  or  indebtedness  shall  be  void.  The  stock  of 
corporations  shall  not  be  increased  except  in  pursuance  of  general  law, 
nor  without  the  consent  of  the  persons  holding  a  majority  of  the  stock 
first  obtained  at  a  meeting  held  after  at  least  thirty  days'  notice  given  in 
pursuance  of  law. 

SEC.  11.  No  foreign  corporation  shall  do  any  business  in  this  State 
without  having  one  or  more  known  places  of  business,  and  an  authorized 
agent  or  agents  in  the  same,  upon  whom  process  may  be  served.  And  no 


226  APPENDIX 

company  or  corporation  formed  under  the  laws  of  any  other  country, 
State,  or  Territory,  shall  have,  or  be  allowed  to  exercise,  or  enjoy,  within 
this  State  any  greater  rights  or  privileges  than  those  possessed  or  enjoyed 
by  corporations  of  the  same  or  similar  character  created  under  the  laws  of 
the  State. 

SEC.  12.  No  street  or  other  railroad  shall  be  constructed  within  any 
city  or  town  without  the  consent  of  the  local  authorities  having  control  of 
the  street  or  highway  proposed  to  be  occupied  by  such  street  or  other 
railroad. 

SEC.  13.  The  Legislative  Assembly  shall  pass  no  law  for  the  benefit 
of  a  railroad  or  other  corporation,  or  any  individual  or  association  of 
individuals,  retrospective  in  its  operation,  or  which  imposes  on  the  people 
of  any  county  or  municipal  subdivision  of  the  State,  a  new  liability  in 
respect  to  transactions  or  considerations  already  passed. 

SEC.  14.  Any  association  or  corporation,  or  the  lessees  or  managers 
thereof,  organized  for  the  purpose,  or  any  individual,  shall  have  the  right 
to  construct  or  maintain  lines  of  telegraph  or  telephone  within  this  State, 
and  connect  the  same  with  other  lines;  and  the  Legislative  Assembly 
shall  by  general  law  of  uniform  operation  provide  reasonable  regulations 
to  give  full  effect  to  this  Section.  No  telegraph  or  telephone  company 
shall  consolidate  with,  or  hold  a  controlling  interest  in,  the  stock  or  bonds 
of  any  other  telegraph  or  telephone  company  owning  or  having  control  of 
a  competing  line,  or  acquired  by  purchase  or  otherwise,  any  other  com- 
peting line  of  telegraph  or  telephone. 

SEC.  15.  If  any  railroad,  telegraph,  telephone,  express,  or  other 
corporation  or  company  organized  under  any  of  the  laws  of  this  State, 
shall  consolidate,  by  sale  or  otherwise,  with  any  railroad,  telegraph,  tele- 
phone, express,  or  other  corporation,  organized  under  any  of  the  laws  of 
any  other  State  or  Territory  of  the  United  States,  the  same  shall  not 
become  a  foreign  corporation,  but  the  courts  of  this  State  shall  retain 
jurisdiction  over  that  part  of  the  corporate  property  within  the  limits  of  the 
State,  in  all  matters  that  may  arise,  as  if  said  consolidation  had  not 
taken  place. 

SEC.  16.  It  shall  be  unlawful  for  any  person,  company,  or  corporation 
to  require  of  its  servants  or  employees,  as  a  condition  of  their  employment 
or  otherwise,  any  contract  or  agreement  whereby  such  persons,  company, 
or  corporation,  shall  be  released  or  discharged  from  liability  or  respon- 
sibility on  account  of  personal  injuries  received  by  such  servants  or  em- 
ployees while  in  the  service  of  such  person,  company,  or  corporation,  by 


APPENDIX  227 

reason  of  the  negligence  of  such  person,  company,  or  corporation,  or 
the  agents  or  employees  thereof;  and  such  contracts  shall  be  absolutely 
null  and  void. 

SEC.  17.  The  Legislative  Assembly  shall  not  pass  any  law  permitting 
the  leasing  or  alienation  of  any  franchise  so  as  to  release  or  relieve  the 
franchise  or  property  held  thereunder  from  any  of  the  liabilities  of  the 
lessor  or  grantor,  or  lessee  or  grantee,  contracted  or  incurred  in  the  opera- 
tion, use,  or  enjoyment  of  such  franchise,  or  any  of  its  privileges. 

SEC.  18.  The  term  "corporation,"  as  used  in  this  Article,  shall  be 
held  and  construed  to  include  all  associations  and  joint  stock  companies, 
having  or  exercising  any  of  the  powers  or  privileges  of  corporations  not 
possessed  by  individuals  or  partnerships;  and  all  corporations  shall  have 
the  right  to  sue,  and  shall  be  subject  to  be  sued  in  all  courts  in  like  cases 
as  natural  persons,  subject  to  such  regulations  and  conditions  as  may  be 
prescribed  by  law. 

SEC.  19.  Dues  from  private  corporations  shall  be  secured  by  such 
means  as  may  be  prescribed  by  law, 

SEC.  20.  No  incorporation,  stock  company,  person,  or  association  of 
persons  in  the  State  of  Montana  shall  directly  combine  or  form  what  is 
known  as  a  trust,  or  make  any  contract  with  any  person  or  persons,  cor- 
porations, or  stock  company,  foreign  or  domestic,  through  their  stock- 
holders, trustees,  or  in  any  manner  whatever,  for  the  purpose  of  fixing 
the  price,  or  regulating  the  production  of  any  article  of  commerce,  or  of 
the  product  of  the  soil,  for  consumption  by  the  people.  The  Legislative 
Assembly  shall  pass  laws  for  the  enforcement  thereof  by  adequate  penal- 
ties to  the  extent,  if  necessary  for  that  purpose,  of  the  forfeiture  of  their 
property  and  franchises,  and  in  case  of  foreign  corporations  prohibiting 
them  from  carrying  on  business  in  the  State. 

ARTICLE  XVI. —  MUNICIPAL  CORPORATIONS  AND  OFFICERS. 

SECTION  1.  The  several  counties  of  the  Territory  of  Montana,  as 
they  shall  exist  at  the  time  of  the  admission  of  the  State  into  the  Union, 
are  hereby  declared  to  be  the  counties  of  the  State  until  otherwise  estab- 
lished or  changed  by  law. 

SEC.  2.  The  Legislative  Assembly  shall  have  no  power  to  remove 
the  county  seat  of  any  county,  but  the  same  shall  be  provided  for  by  general 
law ;  and  no  county  seat  shall  be  removed  unless  a  majority  of  the  qual- 
ified electors  of  the  county,  at  a  general  election  on  a  proposition  to  remove 


228  APPENDIX 

the  county  seat,  shall  vote  therefor;  but  no  such  proposition  shall  be  sub- 
mitted of tener  than  once  in  four  years. 

SEC.  3.  In  all  cases  of  the  establishment  of  a  new  county  it  shall  be 
held  to  pay  its  ratable  proportion  of  all  then  existing  liabilities  of  the 
county  or  counties  from  which  it  is  formed,  less  the  ratable  proportion  of 
the  value  of  the  county  buildings  and  property  of  the  county  or  counties 
from  which  it  is  formed;  Provided,  That  nothing  in  this  section  shall 
prevent  the  readjustrnent  of  county  lines  between  existing  counties. 

SEC.  4.*  In  each  county  there  shall  be  elected  three  County  Com^ 
missioners,  whose  term  of  office  shall  be  six  years;  Provided,  That  the 
term  of  office  of  those  elected  on  November  6,  1900,  shall  expire  on  the 
first  Monday  in  January,  1907;  Provided  further,  That  at  the  general 
election  to  be  held  in  November,  1902  (in  counties  where  commissioners 
are  to  be  elected  that  year),  three  commissioners  shall  be  elected  whose 
terms  shall  expire  on  the  first  Monday  in  January,  1907;  Provided  further, 
That  at  the  general  election  to  be  held  in  November,  1906,  one  commis- 
sioner shall  be  elected  for  a  term  of  two  years,  one  commissioner  shall  be 
elected  for  a  term  of  four  years,  and  one  commissioner  shall  be  elected 
for  a  term  of  six  years,  whose  term  of  office  shall  commence  on  the  said 
first  Monday  of  January,  1907;  And  provided  further,  That  at  each  general 
election  thereafter,  commencing  with  the  general  election  to  be  held  in 
November,  1908,  one  commissioner  shall  be  elected  for  a  term  of  six  years. 
A  vacancy  in  the  Board  of  County  Commissioners  shall  be  filled  by  ap- 
pointment by  the  judge  of  the  judicial  district  in  which  the  vacancy  occurs. 

SEC.  5.  There  shall  be  elected  in  each  county  the  following  officers: 
One  county  clerk,  who  shall  be  clerk  of  the  County  Commissioners  and 
ex  officio  recorder;  one  sheriff;  one  treasurer,  who  shall  be  collector  of 
taxes;  Provided,  That  no  person  shall  hold  the  office  of  county  treasurer 
for  more  than  two  consecutive  terms;  one  county  superintendent  of 
schools;  one  county  surveyor;  one  assessor,  one  coroner;  one  public 
administrator.  Persons  elected  to  the  different  offices  named  in  this 
Section  shall  hold  their  respective  offices  for  the  term  of  two  years,  and 
until  their  successors  are  elected  and  qualified.  Vacancies  in  all  county, 
township,  and  precinct  offices,  except  that  of  County  Commissioners, 
shall  be  filled  by  appointment  by  the  Board  of  County  Commissioners, 
and  the  appointee  shall  hold  his  office  until  the  next  general  election. 

SEC.  6.  The  Legislative  Assembly  may  provide  for  the  election  or 
appointment  of  such  other  county,  township,  precinct,  and  municipal 

*  Approved  Feb.  26,  1901. 


APPENDIX  229 

officers  as  public  convenience  may  require,  and  their  terms  of  office  shall 
be  as  prescribed  by  law,  not  in  any  case  to  exceed  two  years,  except  as  in 
this  Constitution  otherwise  provided. 

ARTICLE  XVII. —  PUBLIC  LANDS. 

SECTION  1.  All  lands  of  the  State  that  have  been,  or  that  may  here- 
after be,  granted  to  the  State  by  Congress,  and  all  lands  acquired  by 
gift  or  grant  or  devise,  from  any  person  or  corporation,  shall  be  public 
lands  of  the  State,  and  shall  be  held  in  trust  for  the  people  to  be  disposed 
of  as  hereafter  provided,  for  the  respective  purposes  for  which  they  have 
been  or  may  be  granted,  donated,  or  devised;  and  none  of  such  land,  nor 
any  estate  or  interest  therein,  shall  ever  be  disposed  of  except  in  pursuance 
of  general  laws  providing  for  such  disposition,  nor  unless  the  full  market 
value  of  the  estate  or  interest  disposed  of,  to  be  ascertained  in  such  manner 
as  may  be  provided  by  law,  be  paid  or  safely  secured  to  the  State;  nor 
shall  any  lands  which  the  State  holds  by  grant  from  the  United  States  (in 
any  case  in  which  the  manner  of  disposal  and  minimum  price  are  so  pre- 
scribed) be  disposed  of,  except  in  the  manner  and  for  at  least  the  price 
prescribed  in  the  grant  thereof,  without  the  consent  of  the  United  States. 
Said  lands  shall  be  classified  by  the  Board  of  Land  Commissioners  as 
follows-  First,  lands  which  are  valuable  only  for  grazing  purposes,  Second, 
those  which  are  principally  valuable  for  the  timber  that  is  on  them. 
Third,  agricultural  lands.  Fourth,  lands  within  the  limits  of  any  town 
or  city  or  within  three  miles  of  such  limits;  Provided,  That  any  of 
said  lands  may  be  reclassified  whenever,  by  reason  of  increased  facilities 
for  irrigation  or  otherwise,  they  shall  be  subject  to  different  classifi- 
cation. 

SEC.  2.  The  lands  of  the  first  of  said  classes  may  be  sold  or  leased, 
under  such  rules  and  regulations  as  may  be  prescribed  by  law.  The 
lands  of  the  second  class  may  be  sold,  or  the  timber  thereon  may  be  sold, 
under  such  rules  and  regulations  as  may  be  prescribed  by  law.  The 
agricultural  lands  may  be  either  sold  or  leased,  under  such(  rules  and 
regulations  as  may  be  prescribed  by  law.  The  lands  of  the  fourth  class 
shall  be  sold  in  alternate  lots  of  not  more  than  five  acres  each,  and  not 
more  than  one-half  of  any  one  tract  of  such  lands  shall  be  sold  prior  to 
the  year  one  thousand  nine  hundred  and  ten  (1910). 

SEC.  3.  All  public  lands  may  be  disposed  of  in  such  manner  as  may 
be  provided  by  law. 


230  APPENDIX 


ARTICLE  XVIII. —  LABOR. 

SECTION  1.  The  Legislative  Assembly  may  provide  for  a  Bureau 
of  Agriculture,  Labor,  and  Industry,  to  be  located  at  the  capital,  and  to 
be  under  the  control  of  a  commissioner  appointed  by  the  Governor  subject 
to  the  confirmation  of  the  Senate.  The  commissioner  shall  hold  his 
office  for  four  years,  and  until  his  successor  is  appointed  and  qualified. 
His  compensation  shall  be  as  provided  by  law. 

SEC.  2.  It  shall  be  unlawful  for  the  warden  or  other  officer  of  any 
State  penitentiary  or  reformatory  institution  in  the  State  of  Montana,  or 
for  any  State  officer,  to  let  by  contract  to  any  person  or  persons  or  corpora- 
tion the  labor  of  any  convict  within  said  institutions. 

SEC.  3.*  It  shall  be  unlawful  to  employ  children  under  the  age  of 
sixteen  years  of  age  in  underground  mines. 

SEC.  4.*  A  period  of  eight  hours  shall  constitute  a  day's  work  in  all 
works  or  undertakings  carried  on  or  aided  by  any  municipal,  county, 
or  State  government,  and  on  all  contracts  let  by  them,  and  in  mills  and 
smelters  for  the  treatment  or  ores,  and  in  underground  mines. 

SEC.  5.*  The  Legislature  by  appropriate  legislation  shall  provide 
for  the  enforcement  of  the  provisions  of  this  Article. 

-  ARTICLE  XIX. —  MISCELLANEOUS  SUBJECTS  AND  FUTURE  AMENDMENTS. 

SECTION  1.  Members  of  the  Legislative  Assembly  and  all  officers, 
executive,  ministerial,  or  judicial,  shall  before  they  enter  upon  the  duties 
of  their  respective  offices,  take  and  subscribe  the  following  oath  or  affirma- 
tion, to-wit:  "I  do  solemnly  swear  (or  affirm)  that  I  will  support,  protect, 
and  defend  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  and  the  Constitution  of 
the  State  of  Montana,  and  that  I  will  discharge  the  duties  of  my  office 
with  fidelity;  and  that  I  have  not  paid  or  contributed,  or  promised  to  pay 
or  contribute,  either  directly  or  indirectly,  any  money  or  other  valuable 
thing  to  procure  my  nomination  or  election  (or  appointment),  except  for 
necessary  and  proper  expenses  expressly  authorized  by  law;  that  I  have 
not  knowingly  violated  any  election  law  of  this  State,  or  procured  it  to  be 
done  by  others  in  my  behalf;  that  I  will  not  knowingly  receive,  directly 
or  indirectly,  any  money  or  other  valuable  thing  for  the  performance  or 
non-performance  of  any  act  or  duty  pertaining  to  my  office  other  than 
the  compensation  allowed  by  law.  So  help  me  God."  And  no  other 

*  Approved  Dec.  10,  1903. 


APPENDIX  231 

oath,  declaration,  or  test  shall  be  required  as  a  qualification  for  any  office 
or  trust. 

SEC.  2.  The  Legislative  Assembly  shall  have  no  power  to  authorize 
lotteries  or  gift  enterprises  for  any  purpose,  and  shall  pass  laws  to  prohibit 
the  sale  of  lottery  or  gift  enterprise  tickets  in  this  State. 

SEC.  3.  The  Legislative  Assembly  shall  enact  suitable  laws  to  prevent 
the  destruction  by  fire  from  any  cause  of  the  grasses  and  forests  upon 
lands  of  the  State  or  upon  lands  of  the  public  domain  the  control  of  which 
may  be  conferred  by  Congress  upon  this  State,  and  to  otherwise  protect 
the  same. 

Six1.  4.  The  Legislative  Assembly  shall  enact  liberal  homestead^and 
exemption  laws. 

SEC.  5.  No  perpetuities  shall  be  allowed,  except  for  charitable  pur- 
poses. 

SEC.  6.  All  county  officers  shall  keep  their  offices  at  the  county  seats 
of  their  respective  counties. 

SEC.  7.  In  the  disposition  of  the  public  lands  granted  by  the  United 
States  to  this  State,  preference  shall  always  be  given  to  actual  settlers 
thereon,  and  the  Legislative  Assembly  shall  provide  by  law  for  carrying 
this  Section  into  effect. 

FUTURE   AMENDMENTS. 

SEC.  8.  The  Legislative  Assembly  may  at  any  time,  by  a  vote  of 
two-thirds  of  the  members  elected  to  each  house,  submit  to  the  electors 
of  the  State  the  question  whether  there  shall  be  a  convention  to  revise, 
alter,  or  amend  this  Constitution;  and  if  a  majority  of  those  voting  on 
the  question  shall  declare  in  favor  of  such  convention,  the  Legislative 
Assembly  shall  at  its  next  session  provide  for  the  calling  thereof.  The 
number  of  members  of  the  convention  shall  be  the  same  as  that  of  the 
House  of  Representatives,  and  they  shall  be  elected  in  the  same  manner, 
at  the  same  places,  and  in  the  same  districts.  The  Legislative  Assembly 
shall,  in  the  act  calling  th,e  convention,  designate  the  day,  hour,  and  place 
of  its  meeting,  fix  the  pay  of  its  members  and  officers,  and  provide  for  the 
payment  of  the  same,  together  with  the  necessary  expenses  of  the  con- 
vention. Before  proceeding,  the  members  shall  take  an  oath  to  support 
the  Constitutions  of  the  United  States  and  of  the  State  of  Montana,  and 
to  faithfully  discharge  their  duties  as  members  of  the  convention.  The 
qualifications  of  members  shall  be  the  same  as  of  members  of  the  Senate, 
and  vacancies  occurring  shall  be  filled  in  the  manner  provided  for  filling 


232  APPENDIX 

vacancies  in  the  Legislative  Assembly.  Said  convention  shall  meet 
within  three  months  after  such  election  and  prepare  such  revisions, 
alterations,  or  amendments  to  the  Constitution  as  may  be  deemed  neces- 
sary, which  shall  be  submitted  to  the  electors  for  their  ratification  or 
rejection  at  an  election  appointed  by  the  convention  for  that  purpose,  not 
less  than  two  or  more  than  six  months  after  the  adjournment  thereof;  and 
unless  so  submitted  and  approved  by  a  majority  of  the  electors  voting  at 
the  election,  no  such  revision,  alteration,  or  amendment  shall  take  effect. 

SEC.  9.  Amendments  to  this  Constitution  may  be  proposed  in  either 
house  of  the  Legislative  Assembly;  and  if  the  same  shall  be  voted  for  by 
two-thirds  of  the  members  elected  to  each  House,  such  proposed  amend- 
ments, together  with  the  ayes  and  nayes  of  each  House  thereon,  shall  be 
entered  in  full  on  their  respective  journals;  and  the  Secretary  of  State 
shall  cause  the  said  amendment  or  amendments  to  be  published  in  full 
in  at  least  one  newspaper  in  each  county  (if  such  there  be)  for  three 
months  previous  to  the  next  general  election  for  members  of  the  Legislative 
Assembly;  and  at  said  election  the  said  amendment  or  amendments  shall 
be  submitted  to  the  qualified  electors  of  the  State  for  their  approval  or 
rejection.  Should  more  amendments  than  one  be  submitted  at  the  same 
election,  they  shall  be  so  prepared  and  distinguished  by  numbers  or  other- 
wise that  each  can  be  voted  on  separately;  Provided,  however,  that  not 
more  than  three  amendments  to  this  Constitution  shall  be  submitted  at 
the  same  election. 

ARTICLE  XX. —  SCHEDULE. 

That  no  inconvenience  may  arise  by  reason  of  changing  from  a  Terri- 
torial to  a  State  form  of  government,  it  is  declared  as  follows: 

SECTION  1.  All  laws  enacted  by  the  Legislative  Assembly  of  the 
Territory  of  Montana  and  in  force  at  the  time  the  State  shall  be  admitted 
into  the  Union  and  not  inconsistent  with  this  Constitution  or  the  Consti- 
tution or  laws  of  the  United  States  of  America,  shall  be  and  remain  in 
full  force  as  the  laws  of  the  State  until  altered  or  repealed,  or  until  they 
expire  by  their  own  limitation;  Provided,  That  whenever  in  said  laws  the 
words,  "Territory,"  "Montana  Territory"  or  "Territory  of  Montana" 
occur,  the  words  "State"  or  "State  of  Montana"  shall  be  appropriately 
substituted  and  read  therefor;  And,  provided  further,  That  the  duties 
which  now  by  law  devolve  upon  probate  judges  as  jury  commissioners 
and  in  relation  to  issuing  marriage  licenses  and  filing  and  recording 


APPENDIX  233 

marriage  certificates,  and  the  duties  as  ex  offido  clerks  of  their  own  courts, 
shall,  until  otherwise  provided  by  law,  devolve  upon  and  be  performed 
by  the  clerks  of  the  District  Courts  in  their  respective  counties;  And, 
provided  further,  That  the  duties  of  probate  judges  now  imposed  by  law 
relative  to  town  sites  and  to  the  approval  of  bonds  of  other  county  officers 
shall,  until  otherwise  provided  by  law,  be  performed  by  the  district  judges 
in  the  several  counties  in  their  respective  districts. 

SEC.  2.  All  lawful  orders,  judgments,  and  decrees  in  civil  causes, 
all  contracts  and  claims  and  all  lawful  convictions,  judgments,  and  sen- 
tences in  criminal  actions,  made  and  entered,  or  pronounced  by  the  courts 
within  the  Territory  of  Montana,  and  in  force  at  the  time  the  State  shall 
be  admitted  into  the  Union,  shall  continue  and  be  and  remain  in  full  force 
in  the  State  unaffected  in  any  respect  by  the  change  from  a  Territorial  to 
a  State  form  of  government,  and  may  be  enforced  and  executed  under  the 
laws  of  the  State. 

SEC.  3.  No  crime  or  criminal  offence  committed  against  the  laws 
of  the  Territory  of  Montana  shall  abate,  or  be  in  any  wise  affected,  by 
reason  of  the  change  from  a  Territorial  to  a  State  form  of  government; 
but  the  same  shall  be  deemed  and  taken  to  be  an  offence  against  the  laws 
of  the  State,  and  the  appropriate  court  of  the  State  shall  have  jurisdiction 
over  and  to  hear  and  determine  the  same;  Provided,  That  this  Section 
shall  not  in  any  wise  be  construed  to  change  the  law  of  the  statute  of 
limitations,  or  the  due  effect  or  application  of  the  same. 

SEC.  4.  Except  as  herein  otherwise  provided,  the  word  "district" 
shall  be  substituted  and  read  in  lieu  of  the  word  "probate"  in  the  terms 
"probate  court"  or  "probate  judge,"  whenever  the  same  occur  in  the 
laws  of  the  Territory  of  Montana,  and  all  said  laws  which  by  their  terms 
apply  to  Probate  Courts  or  probate  judges  shall,  except  as  in  this  Consti- 
tution otherwise  provided,  upon  a  change  from  Territorial  to  State  gov- 
ernment, be  deemed  and  taken  to  apply  to  Districts  Courts  and  district 
judges;  Provided,  That  all  laws  allowing  fees  to  probate  judges  are 
hereby  repealed.  * 

SEC.  5.  Clerks  of  District  Courts,  until  otherwise  provided  foy  law, 
shall  each  perform  the  duties  and  be  entitled  to  the  same  fees  as  now  pro- 
vided by  la\v  for  clerks  of  the  District  Courts  of  the  Territory,  and  until 
otherwise  provided  by  law  shall  also  perform  the  services  and  be  entitled 
to  fees  therefor  that  are  now  provided  for  clerks  of  Probate  Courts. 

SEC.  6.  Upon  a  change  from  Territorial  to  State  government  the 
seals  in  use  by  the  Supreme  Court  and  the  Territorial  District  Courts  in 


234  APPENDIX 

and  for  the  several  counties  respectively,  shall  pass  to  and  become,  until 
otherwise  provided  by  law,  the  seals  respectively  of  the  Supreme  Court 
and  of  the  District  Courts  of  the  State  in  such  counties. 

SEC.  7.  Prosecutions  for  criminal  offences  against  the  laws  of  the 
Territory  of  Montana,  pending  at  the  time  the  State  shall  be  admitted  into 
the  Union,  shall  not  abate;  but  the  same  shall  continue  and  be  prosecuted 
in  the  name  of  the  State  of  Montana,  and  the  title  of  every  such  action 
shall  be  changed  to  conform  to  this  provision. 

SEC.  8.  Parties  who,  at  the  time  of  the  admission  of  the  State  into 
the  Union,  may  be  confined  under  lawful  commitments,  or  otherwise 
lawfully  held  to  answer  for  alleged  violations  of  any  of  the  criminal  laws 
of  the  Territory  of  Montana,  shall  continue  to  be  so  confined  or  held  until 
discharged  therefrom  by  the  proper  courts  of  the  State. 

SEC.  9.  All  writs,  processes,  prosecutions,  actions,  causes  of  action, 
defences,  claims  and  rights  of  individuals,  associations  and  bodies  cor- 
porate existing  at  the  time  the  State  shall  be  admitted  into  the  Union,  shall 
continue  and  be  respectively  executed,  proceeded  with,  determined,  en- 
forced, and  protected  under  the  laws  of  the  State. 

SEC.  10.  All  undertakings,  bonds,  obligations,  and  recognizances  in 
force  at  the  time  the  State  shall  be  admitted  into  the  Union,  which  were 
executed  to  the  Territory  of  Montana,  or  any  officer  thereof  in  his  official 
capacity,  or  to  any  official  board  for  the  benefit  of  the  Territory  of  Mon- 
tana, are  hereby  respectively  assigned  and  transferred  to  the  State  of 
Montana,  to  the  State  officer  successor  to  said  Territorial  officer,  or  to 
the  official  board  successor  to  the  aforesaid  official  board,  for  the  use  of 
the  State,  as  the  case  may  be,  and  shall  be  as  valid  and  binding  as  if 
executed  under  State  law  to  the  State,  or  State  officer  in  his  official  ca- 
pacity, or  official  board,  for  the  benefit  of  the  State;  and  all  fines,  taxes, 
penalties,  and  forfeitures  due  or  owing  to  the  Territory  of  Montana  or  to 
any  county,  school  district,  or  municipality  therein,  at  the  time  the  State 
shall  be  admitted  into  the  Union,  are  hereby  respectively  assigned  and 
transferred,  and  the  same  shall  be  payable  to  the  State,  county,  school 
district,-  or  municipality,  as  the  case  may  be,  and  payment  thereof  may 
be  enforced  under  the  laws  of  the  State. 

SEC.  11.  All  property,  real  or  personal,  and  all  moneys,  credits, 
claims,  demands,  and  choses  in  action  of  every  kind,  belonging  to  the 
Territory  of  Montana  at  the  time  the  State  shall  be  admitted  into  the 
Union,  are  hereby  assigned  and  transferred  to,  and  shall  be  vested  in,  and 
become  the  property  of  the  State  of  Montana. 


APPENDIX  235 

SEC.  12.  All  obligations  of  the  Territory  of  Montana,  existing,  in 
force  and  unpaid  at  the  time  of  the  admission  of  the  State  into  the  Union, 
are  hereby  assumed  by  the  State,  which  shall  and  will  well  and  truly  pay 
the  same. 

SEC.  13.  All  matters,  cases,  and  proceedings  pending  in  any  Probate 
Court  in  the  Territory  of  Montana,  at  the  time  the  State  shall  be  admitted 
into  the  Union,  and  all  official  records,  files,  moneys,  and  other  property 
of,  or  pertaining  to  such  court,  are  hereby  transferred  to  the  District 
Court  in  and  for  the  same  county,  and  such  District  Court  shall  have  full 
power  and  jurisdiction  to  hear,  determine,  and  dispose  of  all  such  matters, 
cases,  and  proceedings. 

SEC.  14.  All  actions,  cases,  and  proceedings,  and  matters  which 
shall  be  pending  in  the  Supreme  and  District  Courts  of  Montana  Territory 
at  the  time  of  the  admission  of  the  State  into  the  Union,  whereof  the 
United  States  Circuit  or  District  Court  might  have  had  jurisdiction,  had 
such  court  existed  at  the  commencement  of  such  actions,  cases,  proceed- 
ings, and  matters, respectively,  shall  be  transferred  to  the  United  States  and 
District  Courts  respectively;  and  all  the  files,  records,  indictments,  and 
proceedings  relating  to  such  actions,  cases,  proceedings,  and  matters  shall 
be ,  transferred  to  said  United  States  Courts;  Provided,  That  no  civil 
action,  cause,  or  proceeding  to  which  the  United  States  is  not  a  party 
shall  be  transferred  to  either  of  said  United  States  Courts  except  upon 
written  request  of  one  of  the  parties  thereto,  and  in  the  absence  of  such 
request,  such  case  shall  be  proceeded  with  in  the  proper  State  courts. 

SEC.  15.  All  actions,  cases,  proceedings,  and  matters  pending  in  the 
Supreme  and  District  Courts  of  the  Territory  of  Montana  at  the  time  the 
State  shall  be  admitted  into  the  Union,  and  all  files,  records,  and  indict- 
ments relating  thereto,  except  as  otherwise  provided  herein,  shall  be 
appropriately  transferred,  as  may  be  proper,  to  the  Supreme  and  District 
Courts  of  the  State,  respectively,  and  all  such  actions,  cases,  and  matters 
shall  be  proceeded  with  in  the  proper  State  courts. 

SEC.  16.  Upon  a  change  from  a  Territorial  to  a  State  government, 
and  until  otherwise  provided  by  law,  the  Great  Seal  of  the  Territory  shall 
be  deemed  and  taken  to  be  the  Great  Seal  of  the  State  of  Montana. 

SEC.  17.  All  territorial,  county,  and  township  officers  now  occupying 
their  respective  positions  under  the  laws  of  the  Territory  of  Montana,  or 
of  the  United  States  of  America,  shall  continue  and  remain  in  their  respec- 
tive official  positions  and  perform  the  duties  thereof  as  now  provided  by 
law  after  the  State  is  admitted  into  the  Union,  and  shall  be  considered 


236  APPENDIX 

State  officers  until  their  successors  in  office  shall  be  duly  elected  and  quali- 
fied, as  provided  by  ordinance,  notwithstanding  any  inconsistent  provi- 
sions in  this  Constitution,  and  shall  be  entitled  to  the  same  compensation 
for  their  services  as  is  now  established  by  law;  Provided,  That  the  com- 
pensation for  Justices  of  the  Supreme  Court,  Governor,  and  Secretary 
of  the  Territory  shall  be  paid  by  the  State  of  Montana. 

Done  in  open  convention  at  the  city  of  Helena  in  the  Territory  of 
Montana,  this  seventeenth  day  of  August,  in  the  year  of  our  Lord,  one 
thousand  eight  hundred  and  eighty -nine. 


INDEX 


INDEX 


Alaskan  caribou  herds,  62 

Alder  Gulch,  90,  95,  102,  104,  105 

Alw ays-Summer  Land,  176 

Annuities,  Indians',  132 

Assiniboin  Indians,  39,  149,  151,  154, 

161 
Assiniboins  and  Piegans,  fight  between, 

57,  58 

Aste,  Father  d',  35 
Audubon,  118 


B 


Bacon,  price  of,  to  pioneers,  124 

Bannack  Indians,  33 

Bannack,  Mont.,  96,  100-102,  106,  108, 

125-127 

Beading  on  Indian  costumes,  173 
Beans,  price  of,  to  pioneers,  124 
Bears,  brown  and  grizzly,  24 
Beaver  skins,  money  in  Indian  country, 

61 
Beavers  and  porcupines,  story  of,  155, 

156 

Bells  worn  by  Indian  dancers,  172 
Benteen,  Major,  136-139 
Big  Hole,  battle  of  the,  129,  131,  140- 

145 

Big  Hole  River,  141 
Big  Horn  River,  45 
"Big  Indian  Me"  (Kenneth  McKen- 

zie),  60 
Birch-bark  canoes  not  used  by  Montana 

Indians,  64 

Bitter  Root  Mts.,  37,  120,  140,  163 
Bitter  root  plant,  163 
Bitter  Root  Valley,  140,  145,  163 
Blackfeet,  33,  38,  39,  41-46,  58-60,  129, 

131,  146,  150,  151,  156,  161,  170 


Boat,  annual,  up  the  Missouri,  75,  121, 

123,  129 

Boats,  river,  63-75,  118 
Boy,  Indian,  story  of,  158,  163-167 
Bozeman  Pass,  45,  89 
Bridger,  James,  47,  48 
Buffalo  Bill,  91 
Buffalo  hides,  18,  61,  158 
Buffaloes,     and    Indians'    dependence 

upon  them,  17,  18,  28,  61,  62,  68,  69, 

119,  129,  134,  158-160 
Bull-boats,  ifc,  64,  74 
Burial  customs,  151 


Cache,  method  of  constructing,  32 

California,  gold  discovered  in,  81 

Calumet,  or  peace  pipe,  152 

Camas  roots,  162 

Cape  Horn  route  to  Oregon,  80 

Capitol  building,  Helena,  125 

Caribou  herds,  62 

Chardon,  trader,  58,  59 

Church  in  frontier  town,  128 

Circles,  tepees  arranged  in,  17,  20 

Civil  War,  Indian  uprising  during,  96, 

123 
Clark,  Captain,  16,  20,  22,  23,  26,  28, 

29,  32,  33,  36,  38 
Clothing  of  pioneers,  128 
Coffee,  price  of,  to  pioneers,  124 
Cold  Maker,  legend  of,  156 
Colors,  Indian,  173 
Colter,  John,  38,  40-46,  48,  118 
Colter's  Hell,  46 
Columbia  River,  37 
Competition  for  Indian  trade,  60,  61 
Confederate  Gulch,  103 
Cooking,  Indian  methods  of,  161,  162 
Copper  found  in  Montana,  104 


239 


240 


INDEX 


*  'Cordelle,"  rope  for  hauling  boat,  65 

Corn-dance,  171 

Costumes  at  Indian  dance,  172 

Coups,  and  coup-sticks,  138,  165 

Courts  of  law,  106,  116,  125 

Cowards,  Indians'  treatment  of,  164 

Creation,  Indian  legends  of  the,  146-149 

Crook,  General,  134 

Crooked  Falls,  29,  30 

Crow  Indians,  33,  39,  54-57,  97-100, 

148,  149 

Cruelty  learned  by  Indian  boys,  163 
Custer,  Major-General  George,134-139, 

145 
Custer  Massacre,  see  Little  Big  Horn, 

battle  of  the 

D 

Dancing,  Indian,  171,  172 
Deer,  20 

De  Smet,  Father,  83,  153,  154 
Dishes,  Indian,  160 
Dogs  used  by  Indians,  169 
Dreams,  Indians  believe,  156,  157 
Dress,  Indian,  158,  172-174 
Dugouts,  63,  74 

E 

Eagles  and  eagle  feathers,  20,  133,  166, 

167 
Eclipses,  Indians'  conduct  during,  152, 

153 

Edgar,  Henry,  97,  101 
Elk,  20,  134 

F 

Fairweather,  Bill,  97-99,  101 

Farms,  Indians  on,  175 

Feasts,  Indian,  167 

Fire-canoes,  63,  66,  90,  131,  153 

Fire  horn,  161,  162 

Fire,  methods  of  producing  and  saving, 

44,  161,  162 
Fire-wagons,  153 
Flathead  Indians,  33,  35,  36,  118,  123, 

149,  150,  155,  156 


Flour,  price  of,  to  pioneers,  124 
Food  of  pioneers,  55,  76,  119, 123, 124 
Fords,  wagon  trains  at,  87,  88 
Forests  of  Montana,  19 
Fort  Benton,  52,  62,  74,  95,  97,  106, 

115,  118,  121,  123,  129 
Fort  Colville,  eastern  Washington,  120 
Fort  McKenzie,  57 
Fort  Sarpy,  54-57 

Fort  Union,  23,  51,  60,  61,  74,  118,  121 
Fort  Vancouvre,  120,  122 
Forts,  50-54,  62,  74 
Fox-tails  in  place  of  hair,  175 
French  explorer  (1743),  22 
Fuel  of  river  steamboats,  70 
Fur-trade,  16,  50,  52,  59-62,  75 

G 

Gallatin  Valley,  45 

Gardens,  pioneers',  55,  119,  120,  123 

Gates  of  the  Mountains,  31 

Gibbon,  General,  134,  139,  143,  145 

Girl,  Indian,  story  of,  168 

Glass  Mountain,  Bridger's  story  of,  47, 

48 
Gold,  discovery  of,  71,  75,  89,  95-105, 

123 

Gold-dust  currency,  128 
Gooseberry  juice  used  for  ink,  124 
Government  guides,  47,  48 
Grass-dance,  171 
Grasshopper  Creek,  96 
Great  Falls  of  the  Missouri,  16,  25,  29, 

31,38 
"Great  Medicine  Road  of  the  Whites," 

81,  82,  131 
Great  Salt  Lake,  47 
Great  Spirit,  146,  152,  154 
"Gumbo,"  30 
Guns,  Indians  had  none  before   whites 

came,  17 

H 

Hair,  long,  47,  175 
Hamilton,  William  T.,  171 
Harvey,  trader,  58,  59 
Hauser,  S.  T.,  110,  111 


INDEX 


241 


Heaven,  Indians'  ideas  of,  150 
Helena,  31,  103,  106,  115,  126,  127 
Hell  Gate,  gold  discovered  at,  95 

Holes"  among  mountains,  19 
Horse-stealing,  165 
Horses  used  by  plains  Indians,  76 
Hotel,  primitive,  127 


Idaho,  105,  140 

Indians,  their  name  for  Montana,  15, 
21;  traded  with  whites,  16,  50-62, 
118;  camp  life  of,  17,  158-170; 
dependent  upon  buffalo,  17,  18,  158- 
160;  had  no  guns  before  whites  came, 
17;  their  name  for  Yellowstone 
River,  23 ;  their  name  for  Milk  River, 
24;  their  description  of  Missouri 
River,  27,  29;  Montana  tribes,  33,  35; 
signs  and  sign  language  of,  34,  49,  79, 
80,  170,  171;  tobacco  introduced  to, 
36;  attacks  upon  whites  by,  38-46, 
77-79,  82,  129,  133;  feared  natural 
wonders  in  Yellowstone  country,  46; 
attacks  upon  "fire-canoes,"  66,  69- 
73,  82,  86-94,  123,  124, 133;  mounted, 
76;  what  they  thought  of  the  great 
trail,  82;  what  they  meant  by  "medi- 
cine," 83,  153;  tried  to  drive  out 
miners,  97-100,  103;  in  battles  with 
Government  troops,  117,  131-145; 
gave  up  lands  and  went  on  reserva- 
tions, 123,  132,  133;  beliefs  and  leg- 
ends of,  146-157;  burial  customs  of, 
151;  music,  dancing,  dress,  and  life 
on  reservations,  171-176 

Iron  Bull,  Crow  chief,  149 


Jefferson,  President,  22 
Jefferson  River,  34,  40 

K 

Kalispels  (Fend  d'  Oreilles),  33,  123 
Kansas,  buffalo  herds  in,  159 
Kansas  City,  see  Westport,  Mo. 


Keelboats,  64 

"King  of  the  Missouri"  (Kenneth  Mc- 
Kenzie),  60 

Kinnikinnick,  used  by  Indians  for  to- 
bacco, 36 

Kootenai  Indians,  123 


La  Barge,  quoted,  67 

Lakes,  formation  of,  20 » 

Land  of  Shining  Mountains,  15,  21,  29, 

63,  74,  76,  90,  103,  105,  118,  175 
Langford,  N.  P.,  110-112 
Last  Chance,  90,  103,  105 
Legends,  Indian,  146  et  seq. 
Legislature,  first,  125 
Lemonade  at  reservation  dance,  173 
Lewis  and  Clark  Expedition,    15,    16, 

22-38,  40,  117 
Lewis,  Captain,  16,  20,  22,  23,  26-29, 

32-34,  36,  38 
Lewiston,  court  at,  106 
Lightning,  how  Indians  explain,  154 
Lisa's  Fort,  44,  45,  118    ' 
Little  Big  Horn,  battle  of  the,  117,  129, 

131,  134-139,  145 
Little  Crow,  Crow  chief,  99 
Logan,  General,  143 
Lo  Lo  Pass,  140 
Lo  Lo  trail,  37 
Louisiana  Purchase,  22,  23 

M 

Mackinaw  boats,  64 
Mail  routes  and  service,  90-94,  106,  124 
Manitou,  152 

Maria's  River,  26-28,  38,  57 
Masonic    organization    against    road- 
agents,  112 

Matches  called  "medicine."  .153,  154 
Maximilian  of  Wied,  Prince,  118 
McKenzie,  Kenneth,  60 
"Meat  straight"  year,  124 
"Medicine,"  56,  83,  91,  153 
'  'Medicine  pipe,"  152 
Meldrum,  trapper,  46 
Milk  River,  23 


242 


INDEX 


Milky  Way,  Flatheads'  road  to  heaven, 
149,  150,  176 

Miners,  20,  105-108,  123 

Miners'  courts,  125 

Minister,  trials  of  pioneer,  127,  128 

Missionaries,  83,  118-121,  153 

Missouri  River,  16,  17,  21,  23,  25-31, 
38,  51,  52,  61,  63,  66-74,  76,  90,  97, 
106,  118,  129 

Money  in  Indian  country,  61 

Montana,  Indian  name  of,  15,  103,  104; 
first  known  by  present  name  and 
organized  into  Territory,  15,  96,  104, 
106,  116,  124;  area  of,  21;  Lewis 
and  Clark  in,  23  et  seq.;  thrilling 
stories  in  history  of,  40;  fur-trade  in, 
52;  buffalo  herds  of,  62;  birch-bark 
canoes  never  used  in,  64;  trail  to 
California  gold-fields  did  not  lie 
through,  81;  missionaries  in,  83,  118, 
119;  gold-bearing  gulches  in,  103; 
growth  of  population  in,  103;  early 
days  in,  105,  117;  Governor  of,  110; 
courts  established  in,  116,  125;  rail- 
road across,  117;  Oregon  Trail  did 
not  lie  through,  118;  discovery  of 
gold  in  and  settlement  of,  123,  175; 
first  legislature  in,  125;  first  public 
school  in,  126;  first  newspaper  in, 
126;  Indian  troubles  in,  not  extensive, 
129;  present  aspect  of,  130;  two  In- 
dian battles  in,  131 ;  State  flower  of ,  163 

Montana  Post,  The,  126 

Moose,  20 

Mountain  lions,  20 

Mountain  sheep,  20,  134 

Mountains,  getting  wagon  trains  over, 
87,  88 

Mounted  Indians,  76 

Moving  camp,  1 68 

Music,  Indian,  171,  172 

N 

Nails,  price  of,  to  pioneers,  124 
News,  Indians  eager  for,  170 
News  Letter,  The,  126 
Newspapers,  first,  in  State,  126 
Nez  Perce  Indians,  140 


Old  Man,  Blackfoot    name  for  Great 

Spirit,  146,  152,  170 
Ootlashoot  Indians,  35 
Oregon,  80,  97,  122 
Oregon  Trail,  80,  81,  97,  118 
Owning,  Indians'  ignorance  of  meaning 

of,  132 
Ox  teams  on  Oregon  Trail,  81 


Pack-trains,  76-78 

Pails  of  buffalo  skin,  158,  168 

Painting  an  Indians'  face,  meaning  of, 
34 

Panthers,  20 

Papoose,  manner  of  caring  for,  168 

Pemmican,  17 

Pend  d'  Oreilles,  (Kalispels),  33,  123 

Piegan  Indians,  149 

Piegans  and  Assiniboins,  fight  between, 
57,  58 

Pierre,  S.  Dak.,  74 

Pioneers  in  Montana,  89,  117,  124; 
gold-dust  currency  of,  128;  Indian 
troubles  of,  129 

Pipe  of  peace,  or  calumet,  152 

Plains  of  Montana,  17,  19 

Platte  River,  80,  81,  89 

Plummer,  Henry,  110-112,  114,   115 

Poling  boats,  method  of,  65,  66 

Ponies,  Indian,  18 

Pony  Express  riders,  90-94,  106 

Porcupines  and  beavers,  story  of,  155, 
156 

Postage,  106,  124 

Potatoes,  price  of,  to  pioneers,  124 

Potts,  companion  to  John  Colter,  40-42 

Prairie  fire,  84-86 

Prairie  schooner  trains,  76,  81 

Prices  of  hotel  accommodations,  sup- 
plies, etc.,  124,  127 

Prickly  pear  cactus,  30,  42,  130 

Priests  in  Montana,  95 

Prison,  Indians  in,  175 

Public  school,  first  in  State,  126 

"Punk  tree,"  burning  %  80 


INDEX 


243 


R 

Railroad  across  Montana,  117,  122, 123, 

131 

Rainbow  Falls,  29 
Red  Bear,  Crow  chief,  99 
Reno,  Major,  136-139 
Reservations,  Indian,  123, 132-134, 139, 

171,  175 

Rifles  supplied  to  Indians  and  troops,  135 
"Rim  rock,"  101 
Road-agents,  106-116,  125 
Rock  Mountains,  22 
Rocky  Mountains,  48 
Ross's  Hole,  35 
Routes  for  eastward-bound  miners,  106 


Sacajawea,  25,  31,  33-35 

Sacramento,  Calif.,  91 

St.  Ignatius  Mission,  35 

St.  Joseph,  Mo.,  91 

St.  Louis,  23,  38,  61,  74,  89,  115 

Salt  Lake  City,  106,  110,  111,  125 

Sand  Hills,  Blackfobt  land  of  departed 

spirits,  150,  151 

Sand  Hole,  accommodations  at,  125 
Sanders,  Colonel  Wilbur  F.,  112,  113 
"Savage  Mountains,"  37 
"Sawyers,"  or  snags,  67 
Scalp^danee,  171 
Scalp  lock,  175 

Scalp-taking,  39,  60,  78,  138,  165 
School,  first  public,  in  State,  126 
Selling,  Indians'  ignorance  of  meaning 

of,  132 

Sham  battle  on  reservation,  174 
Shining  Mountains,  15,  16,  19,  21,  22, 

28,  29,  37,  40,  47-49,  63,  74-76,  78, 

80,  95,  96,   104,   105,   bee    Land    of 

Shining  Mountains 
Shoshone  Indians,  33,  35 
Sign  language,  170,  171 
Signs,  Indian,  34,  49,  79,  80,  164 
Silver  found  in  Montana,  104 
Sioux  Indians,  135,  137,  151,  154 
Sitting  Bull,  134,  139 
Sleds  of  buffalo  ribs,  158,  160 


Snags  in  Missouri  River,  67 

Snake  Indians,  33 

Snowy  Mountains,  22 

Spalding.  Mrs.  H.  H.,  80 

Squaws,  Indian,  17,  18,  57,  167,  168 

Stage  lines,  106,  125 

"States,  the,"  45,  117,  122 

Steamboats  ("fire-canoes"),  63,  66-75, 

118 

Stevens,  General  Isaac  I.,  123,  131 
"Stone-boilers"  (Assiniboins),  39,  161 
Stones,  hot,  cooking  with,  161,  162 
Stony  Mountains,  22 
Stories  told  about  Indian  camp-fire,  169, 

170 

"Story-land"  of  Indians,  134,  137 
Stuart,  Granville,  96 
Stuart,  James,  96,  97 
Sublette,  William,  47,  48 
Sugar,  price  of,  to  pioneers,  124 
Sun-dance,  171 
Sun  worship,  152 
Sunday  in  frontier  town   126,  127 


Telegraph  line  established,  126 
Tepee  grave,  151 
Tepees  arranged  in  circles,  17,  20 
Territory  of  Montana  organized,   96, 

104,  106,  116,  124 
Terry,  General,  134,  139 
Three  Forks  of  the  Missouri,  31,  33,  38 
Thunder,  Indians'  fear  of,  154 
Tobacco,  first  use  of,  by  Indians,  36 
"Tom-tom"  music,  172 
Totem  of  tribe,  155 
Totem  pole,  155 

Traders,  16,  20,  52-60,  76,  95,  131 
Trading  posts,  50-54,  118 
Trails,  Indian  and  wagon,  79,  82 
Trappers,  16,  20,  39,  40,  45,  46,  48,  49, 

70,  76,  79,  80,  95,  118 
Travois,  160,  169 
Trial  of  murderer,  112,  113 

u 

Utensils,  Indian,  160 


244 


INDEX 


Vegetable  food  of  Indians,  119, 162, 163 

Vigilantes,  114-116 

Virginia  City,  102,  108,  110,  126 

w 

Wages,  miners',  129 

Wagon  trains,  76,  80-90 

Wagons  used  as  stages,  106 

''Walking  soldiers,"  140,  142,  144,  145 

War-cry,  Blackfoot,  41,  43 

War-dance,  171 

Washington,  80 

Water,  easier  to  travel  by,  23 

Waterfalls  of  the  Missouri,  16,  17,  27, 

Weasel  tails  on  Indian  costume,  172 
Webster,  Daniel  122 
Westport,  Mo.  (Kansas  City),  89 
Wheels  cut  from  tree-trunk,  31 
White  buffalo  skin,  153 


"White  Indians,"  58 

White  men  among  Shining  Mountains 

15,  16,  20,  22,  36,  71,  95,  97,  103,  105,' 

133,  175 

Whitman,  Mrs.  Marcus,  80 
Wild  animals  aboard  steamer,  73,  74 
Wind  River  Mountains  of  Wyoming,  80 
Wolves,  20,  40,  77 
Women  and  children  in  wa^on  trains 

80-83 

Women  did  work  of  Indian  camp,  168 
Wyeth,  Captain,  39 
Wyoming,  89 


Yankton,  court  at,  106 

Yellowstone,  first  steamer  on  Missouri, 

Yellowstone  Park  country,  46,  47 
Yellowstone  River,  23,  38,  45    51    54 

74,  97,  133,  134 
Yukon,  caribou  herds  of  the,  62 


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6  1934 


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JUN  20  1933 


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JAN 


6 1955 


20Apr'59Al 


EC't.»  I  v? 


;. ....- 


LD  21-100m-7,'33 


282 1 1 


.J3 
251149 


